Leo x Nico: Nighttime Talks
by adorablehamster
Summary: I need a better title, but who wants some Leico/Leco/Valdangelo/GhostFire stuff? Bromance, romance, whatever floats your boat, I guess. Just some awkward and adorable bonding time between everyone's favorite pyrokinetic and necromancer. Multi-chaptered.
1. Hello

****DISCLAIMER: **I need to stop putting my disclaimers in my summaries for things. I also need to write better disclaimers than "nothing's mine," because obviously, the writing _is _mine. I would go back and fix the other stories I posted, but… too lazy. So yeah, I don't own Nico and Leo or any of the Heroes of Olympus. Enjoy this little friendship (or romantic ship ;D because c'mon, how cute are these two?) fic.**

Nico's dark, tired eyes shot open and he bolted upright in the bed, somewhat disoriented. Another nightmare, what a surprise. Cold nighttime air made him shiver, even in his blankets… _'No,' _he thought, _'these aren't mine.'_

It felt wrong, sleeping in Percy's bed. Everything about the room made his heart ache—the unmade, blue sheets that smelled of salty ocean air, the candid photo of Annabeth taken at Camp Half-Blood pinned to the wall, the old fashioned rope hammock in the corner—it was too painful a reminder of what he was trying (and very possibly failing) to save.

Curse Leo for only making eight bunks. Hazel said he needed rest and even offered him her own room, but as soon as he saw the look in her eyes, he knew what that meant. And staying in Annabeth or Percy's empty room would simply be too cruel for him to do to his little sister.

Everything since Tartarus felt like a dream—being imprisoned in the bronze jar, being rescued, losing Annabeth and Percy—all of it felt so unreal, or maybe _too real_, compared to what he'd seen in there. They were just things you did not forget. _'The maddening nightmares don't help,' _his thoughts reminded him.

He bit down on his lip, swallowing back tears. _'Deep breaths. That's what Hazel said to do when you got nightmares,' _he reminded himself, shakily inhaling. A stab of pain went through his lungs from the icy air around him, and he coughed so hard he was afraid he'd suffocate. _'Breathe, Nico. This would be a stupid way to die, compared to your alternatives.' _

Hesitantly, he opened the door to his bunk. He didn't have to worry about waking the others up; all of them slept like rocks. If Leo was still awake—which Nico suspected he was (did that guy ever sleep?)—he'd be out of earshot, probably too engrossed in what he was doing to notice Nico anyway.

For a second, he debated waking someone up just so he could break the tense midnight silence that had settled on the ship. There was Frank, who had been kind to Nico the entire time. But waking up someone like Frank was just plain mean. Nico wouldn't do that to him just because he felt lonely.

If Percy or Annabeth were here, he could've gone to them. They both knew who he was, where he came from. Annabeth was wise like an older sister, she could give advice or just listen and it would be more than enough. Percy was like the annoying, idiotic older brother that Nico still loved even after all their arguments.

'_Stop it. You have things to focus on. Thinking of Percy and Annabeth will only make you sad,' _he scolded himself, as his eyes caught Hazel's door.

He knew the other demigods were his friends—they had to get along, there was no choice. He was their guide to the Doors of Death. But a lot of the time, he felt like Hazel would be the only one who ever understood him.

It wasn't just growing up in another time period—no, Nico had been in this century for longer than he could remember and he was fine with life here. The past was a part of him, and he'd already grown to accept that. It was an issue he was done facing.

No, what set Hazel apart from the others was the fact that they were the same. Children of Hades, Pluto, whatever— both doomed to a life of despair. She was the only one who could share such pain.

Other than Bianca.

Stressed out from thoughts of Percy and Annabeth, the prospect of facing Gaea's forces at the Doors of Death, and trying to work things out in a team that was falling apart as they went along, he thought less and less of his late sister. He felt bad ignoring those thoughts, but the memory of her face was just too painful for him to bear without breaking down. And he couldn't afford to do that. Not here, not with everything else already breaking down around him.

With a sad and almost pathetic sigh, he walked into the bathroom and splashed his face with water. He stole a quick glance at the mirror and flinched—he looked almost as bad as he felt.

His reflection's eyes burned into him with such horrifying intensity that he didn't blame people for avoiding him. His cheeks and eyes were sunken in to the point where he looked almost like the skeletons he summoned, and the ghostly white skin didn't help either. A tangled mess of black hair hung in his face, and he didn't bother to fix it.

Shuddering, he dried his face and got out of the bathroom as fast as possible (which wasn't very fast, considering how weak he still was) and accidentally ran into someone. He hoped it was Hazel or Frank, or really anyone other than—

"Whoa there, buddy," Leo chuckled, patting Nico on the shoulder—which almost made him fall over. With a goofy grin and a raised brow, he asked, "Where're you heading off to in such a hurry at this time of night?"

"Nowhere. I couldn't sleep." He hissed, turning to leave, but Leo tapped him on the shoulder. "What do you want?" he croaked, _really _wishing his voice sounded a bit more authoritative.

"Hazel told me to keep an eye on you while she slept. Didn't want you stressing yourself out too much," he said simply, shrugging. He wasn't sure how to approach Nico—he was a scary guy, nothing like his sister. Leo sighed. "Look, I know we're not really the best of friends yet, but you're Hazel's brother, and if you're cool with her, I guess you're cool with me."

Nico glared at him, then remembered his reflection and softened his gaze to a simple frown. "Stressing myself out?" He shook his head, not believing what he was hearing. "That's stupid. If anyone's stressing themselves out here… it's you."

At that, Leo wanted to bolt. He knew in his heart that Nico was right. He'd been working for what, something like two days, maybe? He didn't let himself sleep longer than a few hours at time; he felt a constant need to be manning the ship at all times, attaching new machinery and checking the systems time after time after time—it was maddening and repetitive work, but his fingers wanted to move.

Even right now, his vision was slightly blurry from reading Archimedes' works and trying to construct four new weapons at once. He wanted to say something funny or cool like, "Hey, you're in Leo World now and Leo World doesn't take breaks," but instead he just stared absently, his brown eyes sadder than Nico had ever seen them.

"Hey." Nico raised a brow at him, recognizing a certain pain in his eyes. It was what he saw in his reflection just moments ago. "Leo."

"Wh-What?" he stammered, before clearing his throat and standing up a little straighter. "Whoa, sorry. Zoned out for a sec, there." Leo blinked and tried for a smile, but the sad look didn't leave his eyes.

"Uh…" On Nico's list of things he wanted to do, a long philosophical talk with Admiral Valdez was pretty low. But somehow, he couldn't stop himself from saying something like, "If you're not too busy with whatever you're doing, do you want to talk?"

Leo's eyebrows rose, and he almost smirked. "Well, I'm 92% sure that if I keep trying to read Archimedes' messy handwriting, I'll go blind. So let's get going."

Nico just nodded in response, which confused Leo even more. The two were never very eager to be around each other—"how can he be so serious?" "how can he treat everything like a joke?" "it's scary when he glares!" "he'll probably just make fun of me…"—they had endless reasons to avoid each other, but here he was, offering to make conversation at three in the morning as they rode to certain death.

'_Wonderful time for bonding,' _Leo thought to himself.


	2. Some kind of conversation

Leo led Nico up to a ledge he often sat on during the night when he lost inspiration for working, and the view over the mountains was beautiful—or would have been, if the mountain spirits weren't constantly trying to kill them. "Like it up here?"

"It's nice," Nico answered tersely, leaving nothing for Leo to work with.

"Okay, so…" Leo's eyes shifted around, looking for something to make conversation out of. "Uh, how're you feeling? Probably not too great, based on how you look. Whoops—too honest, huh?"

Nico scowled, but for a moment it looked like he'd almost laughed—which Leo took note of. Maybe this kid wasn't so hopeless after all. "I've been practically dead for a week. Let's just say the transition isn't very easy." He meant to sound cold and unamused, but the words came out more like he was talking to an old pal of his.

"Hmm…" Leo furrowed his brow in thought, and he looked up to see Nico's eyes already focused on him. It was late enough into the night that they should'nt have have been able to see each other, but for some reason—maybe in spite of their bleak situation—the moon was bright and full, reflecting white light off both boys' faces. "That was almost sarcasm. And sarcasm leads to great jokes. Maybe you and I _could_ get along—you could be my apprentice in humor!"

"No." Nico inched away from him, scoffing as though he was thoroughly disgusted. "No. Never. There's no way you could ever get me to do that." As annoyed as he was, he felt his lips curling upwards in a half-smile.

'_Stop that, you and Leo could never be friends. You're here for one purpose; to close the Doors of Death. Not to socialize,' _he chided himself. But even so, he felt something within him—not a hunger that could be satisfied with ambrosia or any other food; no, something else entirely—a desperate need to be around someone else.

Loneliness. That's what it's called, isn't it?

Little did he know, Leo's heart suffered from the same kind of ache. And that was probably the only reason they were up at the top of the _Argo II _together, almost desperately trying to keep up a conversation about nothing.

"Aw, c'mon, you're no fun." Leo nudged his arm playfully, feeling himself relax with the guy he was frightened by just a day before. "Maybe 'apprentice' was the wrong term. Sidekick? Partner?"

"I said _no._" Nico sighed, rolling his eyes. "Why can't you take anything seriously?"

As soon as he asked that question, he knew it wasn't true. Leo _was _serious—even _too_ serious at times. While Nico spent his hours resting and trying to regain his strength, Leo worked and worked without end. His expression was always one of urgency, as though anything that went wrong would automatically be his fault. Nico figured something had happened earlier, but he couldn't be sure, and he got the feeling that asking was not the best idea.

Despite all that, Nico still got the feeling Leo was going to find a way to crack _some _sort of joke in response—that was just his thing, wasn't it? Jokes and all.

Instead, Leo just got that melancholy, serious look in his eyes again. What was _with _this guy? Nico was sure he had him all figured out, but apparently not. He was even a bit worried at the way his expression could so quickly shift from an upbeat smirk to a confused and lonely frown.

"…Uh, what's wrong?" Nico finally said, breaking the awkward silence that had settled in the air. He swallowed uneasily, silently hoping Leo would laugh or say something funny, just because he had no idea what he would say if Leo were to start talking philosophy and life experiences.

"Huh?" Leo blinked as though he was coming out of a daze. "Oh, nothing," he answered quickly, but even that sounded forced and uneasy. _'Not good with organic life forms… thanks again, Dad. Why couldn't you be the god of not-awkward-three-in-the-morning-small-talk?' _he thought, wondering if somewhere, his dad was really listening. Maybe he even laughed.

"I'm not much of a people person," Nico admitted, "but it's obvious enough that something's bothering you. There's no one awake on this ship besides us, and probably won't be for another few hours. You might as well tell me what it is."

"Not much of a people person, eh?" Leo smiled at that. "I guess I can relate to that—not my fault machines are _way _easier to deal with than five cranky demigods and a war-crazed satyr," he chuckled, shaking his head.

"Yeah, and it's not my fault that I get more respect from the dead than I do from a certain Admiral of the _Argo II,_" Nico countered, maybe even smirking a bit. "Well, we can blame our dads for that, I suppose." In an attempt to make conversation, he asked, "What about your mortal parent?"

He realized his mistake as soon as Leo's face darkened. For a split second, an image of a young woman who looked an awful lot like Leo flashed through Nico's mind, and immediately he knew that she was dead.

"Oh gods… I uh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"Nah man, it's okay," he answered, but he could barely keep his voice from quavering. "She's not… you know…" The mechanic trailed off, mumbling a few inaudible words before biting his lip and closing his eyes. With a shaky breath he looked back up at Nico, but his eyes shined in the moonlight, like he was on the verge of tears.

"She's not alive." Nico wasn't going to beat around the bush. Being a son of Hades, he knew that sayings such as 'passed on' or 'in a better place' were meaningless. They didn't change the fact that the person was gone. "Her name was Esperanza, wasn't it?"

"Y-Yeah. How'd you know?" Leo sniffed, wiping at his eyes with the back of his sleeve and hoping Nico didn't notice. It was just hard not to cry when he thought too hard about his mom, and after two days without sleep, his emotions weren't exactly the most stable.

"I'm Hades' kid. I know these things." Nico shrugged, but his cold stare had turned sympathetic. Was Leo crying? It was a bit too dark to tell—that is, until he had to reach up and wipe his eyes. Yep, he was crying. The sight of the happy-go-lucky Leo Valdez in tears almost made Nico want to give him a hug. Almost, but that was _not_ happening.


	3. And Nico continues talking

"Oh yeah, forgot about that whole Hades thing," Leo responded, but he didn't seem to be in the mood for talking very much. "How about yours? Your mortal parent, I mean," he asked without thinking, just to keep the conversation alive. "If you want to talk about it, of course…"

Nico frowned, contemplating how to respond. Maybe this was a doomed conversation from the start, but they were too deep into this discussion to change topics at this point. "I didn't really know my mom—she died in a fire, and I was too young to remember it. My sister—uh, not Hazel…" he silently cursed himself for mentioning Bianca, "she remembered our mom. Maria... Maria di Angelo was her name."

Leo flinched at the 'died in a fire' part, but quickly regained his composure. "Sister? I thought Hazel was your only sister," he commented, but his eyes widened as Nico let out a muffled whimper, like he was trying not to cry. "Whoa, dude, what's up?"

"I-I'm fine," Nico answered quickly, but Leo didn't need to be a son of the death god to know that something had happened to the kid's sister. "I don't normally bring her up. Sorry." He _really _didn't want to be seen crying, especially not by Leo, but he couldn't stop.

"Hey." Leo awkwardly put a hand on his shoulder, trying for a smile. "Ah, don't worry… insert some other comforting words here… Uh, I mean, do you want to talk about it?" He stumbled over his words, not really sure how to go about this whole 'comforting people' thing.

"I…" He was going to say that no, he didn't want to talk about it, but he couldn't force the words from his lips. "I don't know, Leo. I-I miss her."

"Well," Leo started, "of course you do. She was your sister, right?" He tried to think. What would Piper or Jason say? They always succeeded at making him feel better. "I… I learned after my quest with Sir Lightning and Little Miss Charmspeak that if you keep everything from your friends, it doesn't make things any less painful. And… we're friends, right? So maybe if you told me about yourself… I dunno. Maybe you'd feel better?"

"I'm not much of a talker," Nico muttered, "but… okay." The single word surprised both of them, and even though nothing had been said yet, a massive amount of tension left the atmosphere. "I'll start off with my mom, then. Bianca—my sister," his voice came out shaky, but he swallowed and continued. "My sister never really talked to me about her, but I did some research on my own a while back."

Leo listened intently, and Nico must have had a pretty compelling voice, because despite his ADHD, he felt himself clinging to every word.

"There was some trouble in Olympus… World War 2, and all." The mechanic's eyes widened for a split second, forgetting that Nico was from the past, then he continued to listen. "My dad pleaded with my mom to send us somewhere so we wouldn't be in any trouble, but she didn't want to leave us alone. So Zeus blew up the hotel we were in, trying to kill me and my sister…" He sighed. "But my dad saved us and put us in the Lotus Hotel and Casino."

"Hotel and casino? Sounds neat."

"Yeah, no. It seems like a paradise at first, but time passes faster in there so a few months could be years in the real world, and you wouldn't know." He shivered, either because he was cold or he was frightened by the realization of how old he was. Probably both. "Anyway, just a few years back, a lawyer who we didn't know came and took us out, and put us in a boarding school. Then Percy and Annabeth…" He hesitated, and looked to the ground sadly, remembering the day they were rescued. "…came and brought us to Camp Half-Blood."

"Wow, so you've known them longer than any of us, huh?" Leo raised a brow, sounding genuinely interested in learning in the story. "Bet they were pretty epic about it, weren't they?"

"Yeah, and uh… sure, I guess," he answered with a slight smile. "B-Bianca…" A breath hitched in his throat. He wasn't sure he could say much more without turning into a mess, but he just sighed and kept on talking. "She went on a quest to save Artemis almost as soon as we got to Camp." He winced, as if the memory was painful. "I made Percy p-promise… to protect her."

Leo almost gasped. Percy failed? No, no, that was wrong. Percy was the most powerful, capable demigod out there. There was no way he'd break a promise—especially not one that serious. But still, Leo kept on listening, waiting like a little kid hearing a bedtime story.

"They were in Hephaestus' junkyard," he said, and Leo furrowed his brow.

"My dad's got a junkyard?" He remembered while he was still on the streets, he'd seen a few junkyards. They were always full of such interesting things, Leo was blown away by the idea that people could've wanted to throw any of it out. "That place has _got _to have some serious inventions."

Nico, although relieved that Leo was making jokes again, couldn't help but scowl. "Yeah, but if you ever go there, don't take anything. I swear, Leo, if _anyone_ would be stupid and reckless enough to steal from Hephaestus' junkyard, it would be none other than his own son."

"Stupid, maybe. Reckless, for sure." He shrugged playfully, before nudging him in the arm. "Continue with the story. I wanna know what happens," he whined. Now Nico really wanted to give him a hug, because he sounded like a five year-old.

"Um… Confession, I used to be a total idiot. Even more so than you." Nico almost smiled, but he was anticipating the part of the tale that came after this, and he frowned again. "I played a game called Mythomagic, about Greek mythology."

"Oh man, you nerd!" Leo laughed out loud, shaking his head. "I've seen those cards. Do you really think the full strength of the immortals can be measured in attack power and health points?"

"No! Well, maybe I _did_… that was when I was ten!" He huffed, crossing his arms. "Don't make fun of me." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a rather thick looking deck of cards. "I kept some of them. And these are just the ones I didn't burn or throw away," he explained, looking through the various characters and smiling. "Too rare to let go of, you know? And Percy… he told me it's alright to be a kid sometimes."

Leo snickered as he took the cards and looked through them. "Good thing it's okay to be a kid sometimes, because I'm pretty sure that's all I live by."


	4. Conversation ends

"What about figurines? Didn't they also have those guys?" Leo asked, tilting his head slightly.

Nico paled. "Yeah, I'm getting to that…" The Hades statue in his coat pocket grew cold and heavy, and suddenly his mood turned solemn. "They were in the junkyard, and she… she took this." He pulled the small and stunningly accurate figure from his pocket and put it in Leo's hands.

Carefully, Leo turned it over and examined it. It was carefully and delicately made, and although it wasn't a machine, Leo had an appreciation for the little metal god. He wanted to say something serious or even nothing at all, but instead he blurted out, "You mean you didn't even have your dad's figurine?"

That earned him a signature Nico glare. "Don't ask questions you know I won't dignify with an answer," was all he said before moving on. "Anyway… there was a robot guarding the place—Talos, your dad's handiwork—and… it knew she took the statue. That thing was going to kill all of them, but Bianca—sh-she…" Nico stopped, burying his face in his hands muffling sobs. "Oh, gods, Bianca…"

"She stopped the robot, didn't she?" Leo marveled at how brave she was. He could picture the scene perfectly—the junkyard, the robot—even if he hadn't been there. Knowing his father's other inventions, he figured there was a control panel inside, and that would be the only way to stop it.

Unable to speak, the younger just nodded in response.

"Wow." Leo was stunned for a moment, before putting an arm around Nico. "What a hero, eh? You must be proud."

At first, Nico flinched and wanted to push him off, but it was then he realized how cold it was at four in the morning. Leo radiated heat like a furnace, and being in close contact immediately warmed him up. "Y-Yeah, I am proud," he sniffled, wiping at his eyes. "…I never got to say goodbye because I was mad at her," he mumbled, "but I… I saw her as a spirit. She said I got taller, and to forgive Percy… She told me she loved me."

"Of course she loved you, you're her baby brother," he teased, chuckling softly. "Geez, man—you're freezing," he commented, changing the topic. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't notice at first." It felt good to have someone else's arm around him, and he almost felt himself leaning into Leo.

"The temperature tends to drop at night, you know," he said nonchalantly, but he was thinking about how he'd promised Hazel to look after Nico. "Hey, don't take this the wrong way—I promised your sister I'd take care of you, and I've got enough to worry about, let alone a sick demigod, so…" Hesitantly, he wrapped both arms around Nico in a full hug.

"Leo, I hate hugs," he muttered, embarrassed. Half-heartedly, he squirmed in the older's grasp, but after a few tries just gave in. "Forget it. Gods, you're warm." Even in his aviator jacket, Nico could feel heat seeping in through the leather.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Leo grinned, shifting his position and pulling Nico closer to him. "How's this?"

"Mm…" Nico felt his eyelids grow heavy, the cold no longer keeping him alert. "So… warm. You're like a… fireplace…" He went limp in Leo's arms, and even if the pyrokinetic wasn't the strongest guy out there, Nico was so thin he wasn't hard to support. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure thing, buddy," Leo answered. Up until this point, Leo always felt younger than Nico. Even if he was _technically _older, Nico was from a different era, decades before. He was forced to grow up on his own. He was a child of Hades, and probably more powerful a demigod than Leo'd ever be. But now? Leo realized Nico was just as much of a kid as he was, he just was much better at hiding it.

"I'm… a son of Hades… dangerous… angry… vengeful." He was slurring his words, making it hard to understand, but Leo listened. "I knew… about both camps… I tricked Percy… trapped him… in the Underworld… by accident. Do you think… I still deserve… trust?" Nico yawned, and Leo smiled.

"Oh." Leo whispered, remembering how he'd spoken about Nico at first. He bit his lip. "Percy would never hold that against you. He's a real good guy, y'know? He even forgave me after… well, let's just say I've done things I'm not proud of."

'_Yeah, except that wasn't me,' _he wanted to say. Leo shifted uncomfortably for a bit, before sighing. "If it helps… I trust you." It took a moment to get the words out—after all, wasn't it just moments ago that Leo was terrified of the kid he held in his arms now? "And even if you're a son of Hades, you don't seem too angry and vengeful to me. Your powers are wicked—in the good way." Leo couldn't help but think of his mother in the Underworld, which frightened him. Those were dangerous thoughts.

"Your mom…" Nico mumbled, as though he were reading his mind. "I can summon her… not now, too tired… but I can let you see her… one last time." Nico felt himself slipping into sleep, which was bad, because every time he slept, he had nightmares. But for some reason, he wasn't getting that feeling right now. Instead his mind filled with thoughts of Bianca and Percy, his father on Mount Olympus, and somewhere far in the back of his mind he remembered a mother's smile. These were all dreams, not nightmares, weren't they?

On the other hand, Leo's face grew pale. "I-I don't know," he stammered, "I don't think I could… Bro, I'm not sure I could handle… seeing my mom again… I just…"

"I get it. Don't worry, it's… it's tough to see them, I know." Nico cut him off, feeling himself being lulled into slumber. "Leo… Get some sleep."

"Ah… Will do, di Angelo." Leo nodded, before putting his arms under Nico and hoisting him up, carrying him into Percy's bunk.

"So, this is the kid who's in the legendary Percy Jackson's room, huh? Not bad. I think he might even deserve this room." Leo wasn't really sure who he was talking to—maybe Festus, but he was out of earshot, or a god, or maybe just himself—but talking just made him feel better. He flicked the light off. "Night, Nico."


	5. Waking up at night

****Author's note:** I was debating on whether to finish this fic or write more, but I decided I didn't want to end off the story without having Leo speak about his own backstory (c'mon, Nico literally _spilled __everything about his life, _he deserves the same from Leo, no?) and... I also wanted some more awkward stuff. So yeah, this chapter is more on the humorous side of things, because who doesn't love humor and embarrassed demigods? So yeah, funny stuff! Enjoy!

P.S. I may not update for a few days after this, because well... things and stuff happen so yeah. And someone mentioned something in the reviews about Nico summoning Leo's mom? I would do that later, but I'm not 100% sure on Esperanza's character. Ah, I'll figure out something for you guys! And be sure to leave me a bunch of suggestions so I know what you guys want more/less of! Your feedback has been wonderful so far, thank you so so much!**

At some point, Leo took Nico's advice and woke up Hazel, Frank, and Coach Hedge to man the ship and be on lookout, while he just crawled into his room. He didn't think he could sleep since his head was pounding with so many thoughts, but as soon as his body hit the mattress he was gone.

"Leo." Nico knocked on the door, at sundown the next evening. "Leo… are you, um, decent?"

"What?" Leo asked in a daze. He fell asleep so quickly, it hadn't even occurred to him to take off his tool belt. "Yeah, yeah, not like I'm naked. Get in here." He chuckled.

"Sorry for waking you up. Seriously, I love sleeping. But Jason and Piper just left, and Hazel told me to come wake you up." Nico grasped Leo's hand and tried to pull him out of the bed, but since he was so weak, he ended up losing balance and falling forward onto Leo. "—gah!" His landing wasn't too rough, but the impact still forced the wind out of his lungs and sent him into a coughing fit.

"Gross!" was Leo's first reaction, before he realized that Nico was probably in serious danger of choking. "Oh, sorry," he added, before rubbing his back. Eventually, he quieted down and relaxed, laying down still on top of Leo. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he whispered in a hoarse voice, "I'm used to this by now. It still hurts, though."

"Just relax. Whenever a machine malfunctions, I try not to toy with it for a little while. That works all the same with humans, right?" Leo chuckled. "You can stay here as long as you want—…oh."

"What?" Nico asked, but he could hear the door opening.

"Oh, gods!" Hazel's eyes widened and she began to fan herself, almost tempted to back out of the room. "Nico! I-I-I told you to just wake him up! Not… Not this! Gods, what are you two doing? I didn't even know you guys… felt like that…" she muttered, heat rising to her face.

"Uh, Hazel, th-this isn't… gods, you really think I'd ever…" he trailed off, feeling his own face begin to heat up as well. "And with _Nico?!_"

"What do you mean?" Nico asked in a weak and small voice, somehow still not catching on.

"Nico, what I'm saying…" Hazel fanned herself even more, and she was sweating now. She realized it wasn't totally because she was flustered—no, it was because Leo had caught fire. "Oh my gods! Nico, your jacket is on fire… Leo, you're smoking!"

"Why, thank you—crap, crap, crap!" Leo hurried to push Nico off of himself, before the kid got any burns too serious. The bed was okay—he made most the things in his room flameproof, but he kept a sprinkler system attached to the ceiling just in case. He hit a button on the wall, and soon all the flames were totally out and everything was back to normal.

Yeah, not really.

Nico was sitting on the floor, hacking from smoke inhalation, while Hazel just looked absolutely horrified and drenched. It took her a second before it occurred to her to help Nico, and she pulled a small bottle of nectar from her pocket, handing it to him while rubbing his back.

"…Uh, in case you're still wondering, Nico just fell down on top of me. We weren't…" Leo trailed off, clearing his throat uneasily.

"Leo! Now's not the time!" she exclaimed, still flustered and disoriented, as Nico doubled over and groaned, feeling like his lungs were caving in. "Um, go wake someone up! Just do something, he's—he can't breathe!" Hazel scrambled to get up, but Nico just grabbed her hand before she could get up and do more.

"No, I'm fine," he wheezed. "Don't wake anyone else up." He examined a burnt hole in his coat—oh, he was going to _kill _Leo. This was his favorite jacket.

"Are you sure? I could… get Coach to make you some of that nature-healing stuff," she offered, but even she sounded disgusted at the idea.

"Gods, Hazel! Are you trying to kill him?" Leo asked, shaking his head. "Ah, don't worry about it! You can go to sleep, girly. I'll be good to your brother, and I'll try not to set him on fire again… No promises, naturally." He smirked mischievously, winking at Hazel.

"LEO!" the siblings shouted, while Hazel snatched a pillow off the bed and shoved it in his laughing face.

"But he's right," Nico said, "I'll be fine. You need to get some sleep." He weakly pulled himself up into a standing position, hoping she didn't notice that he was actually leaning on the wall.

"Will you really be okay? I mean, you'll have Leo, but that's not really much help…" She bit her lip, putting a hand on Nico's shoulder. He felt so delicate, as though if she touched him the wrong way or nudged him to hard, he'd fall to pieces.

"Not much help?" Leo pouted.

"Yeah, Hazel," Nico answered, ignoring Leo. He smiled halfway, before leaning forward to hug her. "Don't worry about me. I'm your big brother, remember? I should be looking after you."

She nodded and pulled him closer, holding him for a moment more before pulling back and gently pushing the hair out of his eyes. "I can't stop worrying about you, Nico. I care about you," she mumbled, still straightening out his mess of hair. "Make sure you take good care of him, Leo."

"Yes, ma'am," Leo saluted seriously, before letting a silly grin back onto his face. "Now get going, you're losing sleep here."

"Alright…" She backed out of the room and walked a few steps down the hall, before sprinting back in. "You're sure, right?"

"Yes," they both answered, rolling their eyes in unison. _'Since when were they so close?' _Hazel wondered for a moment, but decided not to question. Other than Frank, they were two of the most important guys in her life. _'I'm glad they're friends,' _she thought, smiling as she headed back to her bunk.

Back in Leo's room, the boys looked at each other. "Well, now that Hazel's out of here, guess we should get back out there," Leo offered, shrugging.

"Uh… yeah," he answered, but his head was spinning from coughing so hard, and his chest ached like it was hit by a boulder. He pinched the bridge of his nose, before exhaling and collapsing to the ground.

"Whoa there!" Leo jumped up, and knelt at Nico's side. "You okay there, buddy?"

"Chest hurts." Nico's breaths were shallow and short, since he wasn't sure his lungs could take much more. "Don't get Hazel. Needs to sleep."

"Ah, are you sure?" Leo wasn't exactly too knowledgeable on how to take care of other people, and he figured Hazel could deal with her brother much better than he.

"Yeah. Can I… lie down on your bed?" Nico asked, still struggling to breathe properly.

"Course you can." Leo lifted him up, delicately placing him on the bed. "I'll go get a canteen of nectar from the supply room," he offered, almost out the door before Nico shook his head.

"Drank enough. I'll burn up if I drink anymore," he explained, and one look at his face and Leo knew he was right. Despite how cold it was in the night, Nico's skin was hot to the touch and he was sweating. Any more god food would make him catch fire—again.

"Alright, then just water?" Leo asked, when Buford the table came walking in, with a glass of water on him. "Good boy, Buford! Here, Nico."

"Thanks." Nico gratefully took the cup into his hands, gulping down the water quickly. After the cup was empty, he let out a long sigh, sitting up in the bed. "I hate this," he finally said, and Leo was relieved to hear that his voice wasn't nearly as weak as it had been moments before.

"What? The bed? The water? Me?" Leo raised a brow.

"No, you idiot. I hate being so weak. Hazel's my little sister. I should be worried for her, not the other way around. I hate relying on people." Nico swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, still shaky, so Leo leaned forward and held out a hand.

Nico shook his head, pushing his hand away, insisting on walking by himself.


	6. Fear, Machinery, and a Question

**Author's Note: Hey guys, long chapter today. Um, this is kind of a spoiler for the end of this chapter, so DON'T READ THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE UNTIL YOU FINISH THIS CHAPTER but... I'm thinking Esperanza's either going to be in the next chapter or the one after. Tell me if there's anything about her character you think I can incorporate, if you want! And as always, any other suggestions are wonderful. Enjoy!**

In silence, the two walked up to the ledge they were at the previous night, and sat down. For a long few moments, everything was silent. It was like a cruel game where Leo and Nico were the players, biding time before another crippling attack from a monster or some other kind of disaster.

"So…" Leo finally broke the quiet after they sat down. "You _do _realize what Hazel was getting at, don't you?"

Nico raised a brow without saying much, and after thinking about it for a moment, a wave of realization hit him like a speeding truck. His dark eyes widened as he swallowed uneasily and nodded, heat rising to his cheeks. How could he have been so oblivious? Well, he was choking, but to him, that was no excuse.

"Yeah, uh," Leo scrambled for something to say that would change the subject. "Heh, well, it doesn't matter anymore, I guess," he finally stammered out, but it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself rather than Nico. "And Hazel believes us… probably."

"Yeah. Sure." Nico turned away for a moment, regaining composure. "Let's forget about it." Sure, having your little sister walk in on you lying on top of your male friend was embarrassing—especially if you're a male as well, but even more so, Nico wanted to forget being so weak and powerless.

Leo nodded in agreement, chuckling softly, more naturally this time. "Couldn't have thought of a better plan myself."

For a long while, Nico doesn't say anything in response. He glanced at Leo, raising a brow slightly. Because Nico _knew _his father—and even for god standards, Hades was as terrifying, sinister, and cruel as it got. And even after every good thing Nico tried to do, he knew in his heart of hearts he would always be his father's son. Didn't this mean he too, was cold, calculating, and frightening? Shouldn't he be left alone, banished to the Underworld just as his father?

Apparently, his troubled expression was more obvious than he wanted it to be, because Leo was giving him a strange look. A small idea sprouted in the child of Hades' mind, and within seconds, it grew rapidly into action. Fear is a force. And any force can be manipulated, right?

Pursing his lips, he wondered if he was being too cruel. But he decided that if he was going to test out manipulating fear, he was going to have to start small. "What?" he demanded, purposely making his voice as forceful and daunting as possible. He felt his hand involuntarily clench into a fist, and his eyes turn into a cold, hard stare. _'Maybe,' _he thought, _'if I can manipulate fear, we stand a better chance against armies. Fear is a controller. Fear is power.' _

It worked.

Leo flinched in spite of himself, and suddenly felt powerless. _'Stop it,' _he told himself, _'it's just a Hades thing. Don't be scared of him—heck, he's younger than you, Leo!' _He shifted uneasily before stammering, "W-Well, uh, you just… looked kinda unhappy. S-Sorry, Nico." He had to shut his mouth to keep from saying something like, "please don't hurt me oh my gods," afterwards.

Nico bit his lip to keep from smiling, when he realized how horribly wrong he was being. This wasn't him. This wasn't Nico di Angelo at all. And then, the tables turned—now, he was the one frightened beyond belief. "Oh gods," was all he managed to say, in a hushed tone.

"Wh-What? Did I do something wrong?" Leo was surprised at how much his voice was shaking. "Sorry, sorry, I'm really sorry." Even if he wasn't as exhausted as he was the night before, his emotions were still out of whack from stress and a screwed up sleeping schedule, and something in the back of his mind kept telling him he'd screwed up.

"No, I'm the one who did something wrong," Nico stated simply, in a much softer tone. "Please, don't look so afraid of me. I didn't mean to—I mean… I _did_ mean to, but I'm usually not like that. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Oh," Leo said, but he really didn't understand anything Nico had said. "Wait, what? What'd you even do?"

"I'm usually good with my powers," Nico began to explain, "but you know being a demigod. Sometimes things just happen, even if they're subtle. And the whole fear thing—that's a power of Hades. Radiating fear. I'm sorry."

"Oh," he murmured, thinking about how easy it was to lose control of his powers. When he was talking to Nemesis, his hand caught fire like it was nothing. Or on the night his mom died—but he stopped himself there. "Oh, I see what you mean. Don't worry 'bout it, man." He shrugged it off like it was nothing, but the way Nico's eyes bore into him, it was like his worst fears were hidden in his friend's stare. He wouldn't forget that for a long time.

"Okay. Yeah, you're right, it's fine," he muttered, speaking more to himself than to Leo. He cleared his throat and said, "Let's just talk about something else." He put all his effort into sounding as gentle and non-threatening as possible, and unfortunately, that led to his voice raising nearly a full octave. Immediately, he shut his mouth.

Leo snorted at that, clamping a hand over his mouth to muffle laughter. "S—Sure," he spoke with difficulty over chuckles, "but only if you stop talking like that."

"Stop laughing!" Nico huffed, crossing his arms. "Do you want me to scare you again, Leo?"

Leo's eyes widened and he shook his head. "Alright, alright, sheesh—_you're _the one who makes yourself sound like freaking Mickey Mouse, and you expect me not to laugh?"

"I never said I _expected _anything of you, idiot," Nico answered. Both of them were relieved to hear that his tone of voice had basically gone back to normal. He wasn't Mickey Mouse, but he wasn't Hades, tormentor of souls, either. Just plain old Nico di Angelo.

"Gee, thanks," Leo answered, rolling his eyes. Even if the conversation had lightened up, it was hard to forget the look in Nico's eyes, the power in his voice. It was almost like charmspeak, but much more scary. He knew a power like that, when mastered fully, could be extremely useful in battle—and Nico was barely even trying that time. Still, it didn't mean he had to like it.

A small period of silence entered the conversation after that, and Leo pulled a small metal contraption out of his tool belt to keep himself busy. It was a smaller version of one of Archimedes' inventions, and the craftsmanship was perfect. He'd followed the blueprints to a tee and understood exactly how each piece worked in the tiny machine. With a hopeful look in his eye, he flicked a switch. Nothing. He muttered a curse under his breath.

No matter how hard he tried, the thing wouldn't serve its purpose.

Nico on the other hand, sat silently, watching in awe as the mechanic tinkered with the machine. He took it apart with such skill that in a few minutes, it was a pile of scrap metal and screws. Then, he reassembled it just as quickly. His eyes widened when Leo turned a dial and hit a button, causing the machine to collapse into itself, leaving a compact little box no larger than board game dice. "Whoa," he said aloud, which caused Leo to look up.

"What?" Leo glanced down at the metal cube. With a disappointed sigh, he picked it up and dropped it back into his tool belt, shaking his head. "Oh, the shrinking thing?" He tapped some sort of code into the side of the cube, and it grew back into a six-inch mini weapon of mass destruction. "That's nothing. Archimedes had this thing planned as a detonator. I could fill it up—well, the real thing, not this miniature one—with enough explosives to blow up a mountain. Well, that is… if it even worked."

Nico furrowed a brow and frowned, eyeing the machine. "It doesn't work?" He couldn't help but feel disappointed. It was such a perfectly crafted invention, the idea that it was totally useless was just sad.

"Nope. It's a shame—this one was rigged to send up fireworks rather than bombs, and it would've been _awesome. _Look here." He turned the contraption upside down, revealing a hatch. Twisting the handle, it showed a small opening on the inside. It was full of a powdery substance, which Nico suspected were fireworks. "See, there's this thing, which connects to here…" Soon, he was off on a long explanation on how the entire thing was supposed to work.

Nico understood about 2% of what Leo was saying. All he could figure was that if you hit a switch, the thing fired explosives. Obviously there was more to it than that, but Leo's crash course on Archimedes machinery was not exactly beginner-friendly. "Oh, I see," he told him when he finished.

"You don't get anything I just said, do you?" Leo couldn't help but smile.

"Should I have?" Nico asked, head still spinning, trying to piece together what Leo had been saying.

"No, but thanks for listening anyway," Leo answered with a shrug. Although he liked talking to Nico, and it usually kept his attention pretty well unlike most things, tonight was a slow night. Already agitated from sitting in one place for so long, his eyes darted around, not focusing on any one thing for too long. Damn ADHD. He wanted to be working, but he promised Hazel to take care of the kid. So instead, he just looked to Nico pleadingly, "Do you want to take a walk?"

Nico nodded eagerly. He was also feeling slightly restless as he stepped down from the ledge they were sitting on. "Sure, why not? And while we're at it, there was something I wanted to ask you."

"What's that?" Leo asked nonchalantly, wondering what he could possibly want to talk about.

"Your mom. You said you weren't sure if you wanted me to summon her." For a second, Nico wondered if he was being too blunt about it. But that's how things worked in the Underworld—there were no maybes. "I'm going to ask you again. Do you want a chance to say goodbye to your mother?"

Immediately, Leo felt his heart pound in his chest and the color drain from his face. Even if the last time he'd seen her was years ago, a memory of his mother's smiling face was still fresh in his mind. _'You killed her,' _his thoughts would often torment him. _'No. Stop it, Leo, that wasn't your fault. You didn't mean to!' _

He bit his lip and his eyes filled with burning tears and his hands began to tremble. What was he supposed to say? Yes? He longed to see her. He missed her more than anything or anyone he'd ever lost. But seeing her again was never a possibility he considered. Seeing her would be most definitely be the scariest thing Leo ever had to face.

"Uh… Leo? Are you… okay?" Nico asked, shaking him by the shoulder.

Leo looked straight into Nico's intense gaze. He inhaled and paused for what seemed like forever, and finally, he answered.

"Yes. Yes, I would like to see her."


	7. Leo's turn for a talk

"Alright, well," Nico began as they paced around the deck of the _Argo II_, "there's some stuff I need your help with if we're going to do this right." He wondered if summoning her ghost would really be a good idea, or if it would just hurt Leo even more. _'No, he's right. He deserves a chance to say goodbye. You did with Bianca,' _he reminded himself.

"Okay, sure," Leo answered, but his voice was small and shaky. He wanted to cry, but in front of Nico? That was just plain embarrassing. So instead, he just did his best to mask his emotions and continue with the conversation normally.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Nico asked, immediately seeing through it.

"Of course I am," he answered a bit too fast, eyes quickly filling with tears. Hurriedly, he looked away and wiped them on his sleeve. "Just tell me what you need me to do. I'm—I'll be fine."

"Leo…" Nico frowned. He felt guilty for putting his friend through this, even if it was something that needed to be done, something Leo himself had agreed to. Why did his powers only ever seem to make people unhappy? Why couldn't he be like the other demigods, whose abilities made them more likable and more helpful?

"Geez, kid," Leo muttered, forcing a smile, "I already said I'd be fine. So what is it that you need?" He tried to sound more sure of himself, but his mind was elsewhere. How do you even begin to prepare yourself to see the ghost of your dead mother?

"Well, it helps if I know a bit about her, and a bit about you," Nico explained. "Simple things about her life—who she was, how she died, favorite foods. Anything about your life that might be relevant, too, I guess."

Although knowing those things did make summoning spirits easier, the real reason Nico was asking was simply the fact that he was curious. He wondered to himself, who was Esperanza Valdez? And, more importantly… who was _Leo Valdez_? It seemed like the more Nico got to know this guy, the more of a mystery he became, and Nico was never a fan of mysteries, considering how much of his life was one already.

"Oh, okay," Leo was fighting down a quaver in his voice again. He wasn't sure if he could speak about his mom without totally falling apart—like a poorly-made machine, one that was just short of the breaking point. "Wait, favorite foods?" In spite of himself, he raised a brow. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"…Not important yet," was all Nico had to say in response. "Just talk."

Leo nodded, then cleared his throat. "She… She grew up in Houston, Texas. She worked in a mechanics shop… I guess that's how Dad fell in love with her. Figures." He almost smiled, but it quickly faded. "If you think I'm good with machines, you should've seen what she could do."

Nico just nodded encouragingly, his expression beckoning him to speak more.

"Anyway, we spent a lot of time down there at the shop—it was a little creepy. I was never a big fan of the dark when I was young, y'know? But with my mom there, I didn't really care." Memories came flooding back, and with them, a sudden jolt of emotion. He winced as if those thoughts hurt him, and for a moment Nico looked concerned.

"Uh, are you—" Nico began to ask, when Leo nodded.

"Yeah, I'm good," he cut him off, before sighing and continuing to speak. "We were at the store late one night. I was hanging out like I always did, while she worked hard on a patent for a new drill bit—the thing was genius, by the way—and uh…" His voice faltered. "Y'know. Gaea visits… stuff happens."

"Stuff?" Nico was astounded at Leo's ability to totally and completely sum up his own mother's death as 'stuff happening,' but he wasn't about to blame him. If this was the way he dealt with hardship, so be it. Nico would listen, no matter what words Leo decided on using.

Leo's expression faltered. "I… I did it. It was all my fault."

"Did what…?" Nico asked, though he was a bit afraid to hear the answer. He got chills up his spine—either from the chilly air outside, or the fact that he knew he was about to hear the tale of someone's death.

"Gaea—I saw her and I freaked, I thought my mom was in danger, I just wanted to keep her safe and I…" Leo choked on his words. "I killed her, Nico!" His voice rang out, loud enough to hang in the atmosphere for a moment. "It was me—I burnt the warehouse down. I killed her… Everything… _Everything_ is my fault." He stops for a second and silence drops in the air like a bomb.

These were things he hadn't said or even thought about for ages, after being with Jason and Piper. They told him over and over like broken records—it wasn't his fault, it was Gaea's. She was messing with him. So he just went along with it. Sure, why not? Nothing's his fault, right? It might've been _his _fire, and his entire family might have blamed _him, _and it was _he _who spent his time running away—but this was all _Gaea, _wasn't it? That earth goddess, who seemed to disappear as soon as the whole ordeal was over. Did they really expect him to believe it?

He wanted to believe them. He wanted to leave the past behind, like old technology left when something newer, better, and more reliable comes along. But he couldn't. Each time he used his powers, the same rush of energy filled him—the same one that killed his mother. And sometimes, he couldn't help but think that maybe it _was _his fault.

Nico, however, wasn't going to take this. He'd sat and listened through the entire story, and now it was his chance to speak. "Leo, do me a favor. _Shut up."_

"What?"

"Are you crazy?" He felt angry. As a child of Hades, he knew how important it was to keep his temper under control. But he couldn't help it. He wasn't angry at Leo—in fact, he wasn't exactly sure what he was angry at. Maybe just the world, for damning all demigods to such tragic fates. Yes, that was it. The world itself—and it wasn't a what, it was a _who. _

Gaea was who he was angry at.

"Leo, look at yourself. You, single-handedly, are manning the _Argo II. _And it deserves the name, too, because this ship is nothing short of the original _Argo. _You've come this far. Are you really going to blame yourself, and continue to blame yourself, and drive yourself _insane _over something that wasn't even your fault? This is who we are. We are demigods, Leo. Nothing's ever going to be happy for any of us, but that doesn't mean it's your fault." Nico's tone was bitter, but hearing power in his voice was oddly reassuring to Leo. "You know, holding grudges is a fatal flaw of Hades children. I got that under control a while ago—maybe you should take a lesson from me. Stop holding a grudge against yourself. I won't have it."

At this point, Leo's emotions were everywhere. He didn't know whether to feel sad and sorry for himself, or to get angry at Gaea, or if he should be glad to have a friend like Nico. For a moment, he let himself feel all three.

Nico's words were harsh and his eyes were intense as he spoke them, like they were full of a fire so hot that Leo's own powers could never compare. But what he was saying was probably the most sincere thing Leo had ever heard him say.

He struggled to say something, say anything. But when he opened his mouth, no words came to him. Instead, he just cried silently, tear droplets hitting the deck of his own ship.

"Hey…" Nico put a hand on Leo's shoulder, anger totally drained along with his energy. He was never comfortable with being near other people, but if there was one person on earth who needed a hug at that moment, it was probably Leo Valdez, Supreme Commander of the _Argo II. _With a soft sigh, the younger demigod gave in and—very awkwardly and hesitantly—put an arm around the other. "It's okay."

Leo wanted to thank him, to crack a joke or say anything, but words still caught in his throat. He resorted to nodding, which Nico understood.

With everything that had happened already, it was hard to believe it was only about two three hours into the night. Waking up suddenly felt like a forever ago. It was eleven o'clock, latest. "I'll take you back to your room. You should sleep for an hour or so, I'll wake you if I need you. We've got a long night ahead of us."

Even if he was fairly certain he wouldn't be able to close his eyes, let alone fall asleep, Leo nodded again, for lack of some better response. He couldn't seem to stop crying, but Nico didn't seem to notice—or at least, he didn't say anything when Leo reached up to wipe tears from his eyes.

Silence hung in the air as the two arrived at the door of Leo's bunk, but it wasn't a tense silence. It was calming, almost soothing, compared to the hectic night they'd endured so far. "Sleep well," was all Nico said, before backing out of the room, leaving Leo alone on the bed.

Finally, just before Nico shuts the door behind him, Leo finds his voice. But what he said stumps Nico more than anything he'd said the entire night. "Apple cider."

Unsure of whether to laugh or be concerned, Nico just shakes his head, wondering if he heard him correctly. "What…?"

"Apple cider. You asked for favorite foods. She loved apple cider."


	8. Summoning spirits

Leo stared up at the ceiling of his room, convinced that he would never fall asleep. Wrong. In two short minutes, emotional and physical exhaustion drove him into a deep slumber.

Nico on the other hand, having already made all the preparations for later, had climbed up to the top of the ship's mast. The wind was so strong it threatened to throw him off balance, but the danger made him feel slightly more alive.

An hour passed quicker than the son of Hades had realized, and soon, he was at Leo's door again. Silently, he slipped into the room and shook him. "Leo. Wake up."

Leo, in his half-asleep state, was only able to mumble something incoherent and add, "five more minutes…" to the end of his sentence as he rolled over and pulled the blanket over his face.

"No." Nico had become increasingly anxious as the time to summon Esperanza Valdez drew near. What if he did something wrong? What if it didn't work with the Doors of Death still open? What if she didn't respond? Each 'what if' was cause to panic, but so far he managed to keep his worries in check. "Leo, get up now," he urged, shaking him harder this time.

"Alright, fine," he groaned, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He stretched and yawned, with a bright-and-early smile that showed he was still stuck in dreamland. It kind of hurt Nico to see him so obliviously happy, considering the reason he was here to wake him up. "Morning," he joked.

"Actually, it _is_ morning. Just past midnight," Nico counters, but his expression is still dead serious. "Let's go. We still have things to do before…" His voice faltered, trying to select better words than just saying 'summoning the ghost of your dead mom.' Luckily, Leo got the point before he had to finish the thought.

"Oh." All traces of a smile disappeared from his face and he grew pale, but he nodded. In an uneasy quiet, he followed Nico out of the room, not even bothering to ask where they were headed. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he sure as Hades wasn't expecting to be taken to the dining room. What, was Nico hungry for breakfast or something? "What… are we doing here?"

"Get out the cups," Nico ordered. "You said they create any food or drink you want, right? Start making apple cider, and whatever else your mom liked." Nico took a glass into his hand, and it began to fill with the warm beverage.

"Sure?" Leo just let out a confused laugh—it was all he could think to do. Picking up a cup, he willed it to fill with her favorite drink, and after that one was full, a few of her favorite foods began spontaneously popping up on plates. "What, we're gonna throw her a party with all her favorite foods?"

Nico hesitated, as though Leo was being serious about that thought. "Kind of," is all he said, before gathering cups in his arms and walking off, expecting Leo to follow. Stacking plates on his arms like a waiter at a diner, he and the son of Hades left the mess hall.

Nico stopped in front of the Athena Parthenos. It was in an unlit part of the ship, but it radiated light and magic enough so that Leo could still see around him. Why had Nico taken him here? And as though the location wasn't odd enough, there was a large basin filled with dirt and a huge hole dug in the middle, right in front of him. "…What?" was all he could say, trying to make sense of it all.

For Nico, summoning spirits was practically second nature. The fact that Leo could be so clueless was somewhat irritating, somewhat expected. He sighed. "All spirits live in the Underworld, so to summon them, you dig a hole in the earth. That's a bit of a problem for us, since we're hundreds of feet in the air. I'm hoping this thing," he gestured to the large pot of dirt, "will do, especially since the Athena Parthenos is here to amplify my power."

"Ah… makes sense," Leo mumbled, even if it made little to no sense to him at all. "So we're just gonna… dump all this food in there?" he asked, though he was a little afraid of the answer.

"It depends if you're ready or not." Nico looked a bit uncomfortable, which naturally, wasn't very reassuring to Leo. "You've got a chance to back out now. But I don't really suggest you take it."

"I won't—all this food would go to waste, wouldn't it?" he joked, not even bothering to hide the quaver in his voice. "I mean… I'm not ready. I'm not ready at all, but heck, I'll never be ready, so now's as good a time as any, right?"

"If you say so," Nico offered, frowning at how frightened Leo sounded. Then he prayed a silent plea to his father and also to Athena, and began dumping food into the hole. Leo followed the example, pouring a tall glass of apple cider into the pit as well as other goodies, until it glowed with an eerie light.

Nico murmured something out loud in ancient Greek, and after a few moments, Leo decoded it. _"Hades, all-powerful god of the Underworld, show me the spirit of Esperanza Valdez," _he had said. Mist billowed out from the small opening in their makeshift ground, and a figure seemed to be formed out of the air.

She was a young woman in her early thirties, maybe. Her smile was kind and warm, like a mother's smile should be, but her eyes brave, making it clear that she'd seen hardship in life. Her translucent form shimmered in the darkness, and then came fully into view. Nico had to stifle a gasp at how much the woman reminded him of his older sister.

Leo's eyes widened and a breath hitched in his throat. He opened his mouth to say something, but words failed him. He felt tears building inside him, but he swallowed the emotions down and stared at his mother, trying to keep his balance on his feet.

"Hello, _mijo," _she said in a soft voice. "I missed you."

Leo reached his hand up and touched her—but she wasn't really there to touch, and his hand passed through her fingers. "_Mama," _he began, "I—I missed you, too." He looked into her eyes, and for a moment, he felt like the same little boy who sat in the back of the mechanics store, telling jokes and tapping messages in Morse Code.

"You're so big now, aren't you?" Her smile grew even wider and she laughed, a sound Leo hadn't heard for years, other than in his memories.

"S-Still shorter than everyone else," he mumbled, eyes not once leaving his mother's face. "Are you… Are you angry at me? _Lo siento_," he reflexively said in Spanish, like being around his mother reawakened that part of his brain. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"_Por qué?_" she asked, shaking her head. "Never be sorry to me. You've done nothing wrong." She reached out and brushed her hand across his cheek, hand disappearing into nothing as it got nearer to his face.

"But I did!" He feels his voice rising against his own will. "I burned down the building… I hurt you. I killed you." It was a confession he'd been carrying around for his whole life, and although the burden lessened when he talked to Jason, and Piper, and Hazel, and Nico… he felt only then that the burden had truly left him.

"No." Her expression hardened, in a stern sort of motherly way. "You didn't do anything, _mijo. _You're my little boy. They may blame you and take away everything—but any machine can be fixed. You just need to find the right parts."

Leo's heard her say this more than once before, but this time, he made a silent promise to himself that he would take the advice and use it. "I… I saw Hephaestus—I saw my father," he told her, changing the topic.

"Ah, _tu padre? _Crazy old man," she chuckled. "I loved him, though—I suppose I am just a crazy old woman, then."

"No!" Leo blurted out, now laughing with his mother. "If you ask me, you're very beautiful. _Muy bella, mama." _He grinned as he spoke, and it was a smile Nico hadn't seen on his face for a while. Actually, Nico was fairly certain he'd never seen Leo this happy, and probably never would again.

"Ah, but not as handsome as you've grown up to be," she countered. "And now you're probably even a better mechanic than I was." She smiled, a proud glint in her eyes.

"Better than you? Impossible."Leo shook his head.

On the sidelines, Nico chanted quietly and watched as the image flickered. He was about to speak, to tell them to hurry, but it became clear enough to all of them that there wasn't very much time left.

"It's very possible, _mijo,_" she told him, but her voice sounded farther away. "I have to go soon…"

"No," he whispered. "No, no—I can't lose you again! D-Don't leave… please, _mama_, don't leave?" He whimpered.

"_Lo siento, mijo." _She bent down and hugged him, but he didn't feel it. "Don't be sad. I'm proud of you. I love you very much." The image began to fade even more, and Leo could barely make out his mother's face in all the darkness.

"I love you," he managed, hoping his mom heard him, before mist stopped billowing out of the basin. Then, the image of his mother disappeared entirely, until he was left staring at empty darkness in front of a bucket of dirt.


	9. The rest of the night

**Author's Note: Sorry this took so long! I was busy for a little while, and I'm also on a new laptop, but I should be posting more regularly after this! Thank you all for the wonderful feedback and for reading, you're awesome! Enjoy!**

Leo crumpled to his knees, grabbing at the basin as though his mother might still be there somehow. A torrential wave of emotion washed over him without warning, as though every pang of sadness he'd ever felt his entire life was now being released all at once, and there was no stopping the downpour of tears. "_Mama, mama," _he wailed in a voice someone only uses when they've lost something irreplaceable, "please don't be gone. Please don't be gone."

This was about the time that Nico began to regret this more than ever. Heaving out a sigh, he knelt down a few feet away from his friend. "Shh," he murmured, "Leo, look at me."

Still sobbing, he turned around. Like a small child who'd gotten himself hurt on the playground, he looked up at Nico expectantly, as though he wanted him to give him a Band-Aid or something. Unfortunately, Dr. Nico was all out of life-fixing magical cures.

"Uh…" Nico shifted uneasily, blaming himself for causing this. _'I shouldn't have been so stupid! Leo isn't a child of Hades! He wasn't able to handle this! He'll never be okay! Look what you did, look what your powers did! You made everything worse,' _he told himself.

Leo blubbered out some incoherent words, slowly making his way over to where Nico was.

Nico cursed under his breath. How do you stop these kinds of things? The last time he saw Bianca, he was nothing like this. But then again, the last time he saw Bianca, he didn't know it would be the last. "Leo, it's okay," he tried to say, but it didn't sound convincing. "Let's go back to your room, okay? You can… sit down on the bed. Or something."

'_A+ advice, Nico,' _he chided himself. Leo might've said he wasn't good with people, but surely, he was better at comforting them.

Half-heartedly, Leo dragged himself off the ground, but his vision was blurred with tears. He could barely stand, and looked about ready to fall over, before Nico swiftly got up to help steady him.

"Don't worry," he muttered under his breath, but he wasn't sure whether he was speaking to himself or to Leo. With an arm around his weeping friend, they walked very slowly back up to the bunks. "Shh," he whispered when they got there. Even if the other slept like rocks, surely they could hear him crying. "Leo, be quiet!"

Leo swallowed down his sobs and nodded, and for a while he seemed to quiet down. _'You should have made these rooms soundproof,' _he told himself, which seemed like a pretty stupid thought considering the thousands of other things he should have been thinking about at the time.

Nico shifted uneasily in the room, before finally going over to sit down next to Leo. "You know... your mom reminded me of my sister," he mumbled, not exactly sure what it was supposed to accomplish.

"D-Did sh-she?" He was barely able to speak, still racked with tears. Something in the back of his mind told him he should be embarrassed, sobbing like this in front of Nico, but he couldn't muster the energy to care.

"Yeah," was all Nico said, before glancing over at Leo. Biting his lip, he inched a little closer and sighed. "They seem to have a bit in common." He wanted to comfort him, but kind words and rambling about how things will be get better just wasn't exactly his style.

Leo just nodded, and everything was silent other than his occasional sniffling and whimpers. _'That was the last time,' _he told himself, but he couldn't believe it. He wanted to believe that somewhere, somehow, he'd see her again. _'Yeah, when you're dead,' _was all he could think of, which wasn't very reassuring.

Still, he felt the need to say, "Thank you, Nico."

"Thank me? Thanks for what? All I've done is hurt you. I should be apologizing," Nico muttered, shaking his head miserably. He couldn't clear his mind of the sight of Leo on his knees, like he was begging that stupid pot of dirt to bring his mom back. "Don't thank me. You should hate me."

"What?" Leo frowned. "No, no, I mean—sure, I-I'm a litle sad..." Understatement of the year. "But I needed that... I-I needed to... you know, hear her voice again. To say goodbye. I could never hate you for that." he trailed off, feeling the words catch in his throat.

"A little sad?" Nico sighed. "Fine. If you say so." It would be no use to argue, so he just crossed his arms and sat there, wondering if that time had to be the last time. Technically, he could summon his mother's spirit any time he wanted to, right? But that was dangerous—it tricked people into thinking that they had power over death, when they don't. It tricked people into thinking they could act as though nothing ever happened. And he didn't want for Leo to become like that.

Shaking his head to clear it of his thoughts, he got up. "I'll go watch over the ship. Get some rest."

"No—wait," Leo said quickly, "don't... uh, don't go." He inwardly cursed himself for speaking up, but the fact of the matter was that he was scared to be alone in his own dark, cramped room. "The ship's on autopilot. Just stay here. Humor me, please?"

Nico raised a brow. "Okay?" he answered, not really understanding Leo's logic. For him, being alone was just a way of life. He didn't need other people to be there for him, to comfort him. Companionship was nice, but it was never necessary in his eyes. "But I do think you should get some rest."

He grimaced, because he had a sneaking suspicion that any sleep he got that night would be plagued with nightmares. "Aw, c'mon," he mumbled nervously, "you know me, I don't need sleep."

"I barely know you, first of all," Nico said sternly, "and second of all, you do need sleep." He leaned over and pushed him gently, so that he landed in the pillows.

"Hey!" Leo exclaimed, even almost smiling. "I'm fine," he muttered, but the night was taking its toll on him. He felt exhausted from crying so much, and figured he probably didn't look that great either.

"No, you aren't," Nico told him. Summoning spirits always made people tired—well, not exactly _tired_—no, it was more like it sucked the life out of them. He figured (with himself as an example) that hanging out with the dead all the time was not the best thing for someone's health. "Seeing spirits drains people of their energy, me included. So sleep."

"Well, if you're included, aren't you tired, too?" Leo asked, putting his hands behind his head nonchalantly. Without realizing it, he shifted his positiion so that there would be enough room on his bed for two people to lie down.

"I'm always tired. It's kind of a side-effect of being dead for a week," he muttered, but he didn't sound like he was being very serious.

"Then lie down," he said, gesturing to the space next to him. He wasn't sure if he was being nice, or if he just felt awkward because he had to look up at Nico while they spoke. "I still have that promise to your sister, you know. Taking care of you and all."

Nico scoffed. "You? Taking care of me? No."

"Hey—your sister's idea, not mine," he answered. The atmosphere lightened up a bit, but Leo still felt a lump of sadness and fear and loneliness and every other bad thing he could possible feel settled in the pit of his stomach. "Just lie down, buddy," he said, but it sounded more like a plea than a command.

Grumbling half-heartedly something about Hazel being too caring, he gave in and flopped down in the space next to Leo.

Although he knew he was going to have nightmares as soon as he fell asleep, the mechanic's eyelids grew heavy against his own will. "Nico?" he mumbled softly, nearly falling asleep. _'Stop it, stay awake. You're supposed to be taking care of the ship and making new weapons and watching over Nico and...' _he listed the number of things he could have been doing, but it didn't stop him from closing his eyes and letting out an exhausted sigh.

"What?"

"Do you ever get nightmares?" Leo asked. He knew all demigods got nightmares, and he knew they were never just dreams, but it didn't mean that he didn't feel embarrassed talking about it. Nightmares were for little kids. Not people who were supposed to be saving the world from certain doom.

Nico shifted uncomfortably a bit, before finally answering, "Yeah. Everyone does." But Nico knew his nightmares were nothing like Leo's. Because when you come out of Tartarus, nothing about you is ever really the same as anyone else.

"Do you miss your sister?" Leo knew it was a touchy subject, but the whole night had been full of touchy subjects, so he figured that one more wouldn't hurt.

"You know," Nico said, "I used to be a lot like you. Asking pointless questions, most of which I already had the answers to." He thought about the first time he met Percy, and although it was a happy memory, the wave of nostalgia that came with it was overwhelming. "Yes," he finally answered, "of course I miss her."

"Are you going to stay here the whole night?" He silently prayed that he would say yes, because the idea of facing the night alone was still a daunting one.

"Do you want me to?" Nico countered. He didn't want to be there, lying down on a cramped bed against his will next to the annoying Supreme Commander of the _Argo II, _but he also couldn't bring himself to leave. Something about the pain in Leo's voice, the look in his eyes. It reminded him all too much of a stupid ten year-old kid who lost his sister some years before.

"Kind of," he admitted.

"Then I will." He swore to himself he wouldn't sleep, gods forbid Hazel or any of the other demigods walk in on them—or worse, Coach Hedge—but he would stay.

And he did stay, listening the entire night as Leo fell in and out of consciousness, occasionally shifting in his sleep or kicking the blankets away, even waking up screaming from a nightmare at one point. As the sun rose outside of the bedroom, Nico got up and stretched. It was a long night, but a night well spent.


	10. Good morning (kind of)

"Leo, it's morning." Nico shook him gently. "We should be out there before anyone else wakes up." It was just past dawn, which technically was supposed to be when the two of them went back to sleep after getting the others up, but Nico figured that it wouldn't hurt to let them sleep a little longer while he tried to get Leo up, first.

"Nnh..." The mechanic groaned and rolled over, tangling himself in a mess of blankets and bedsheets. "Mmphh hmmpph fffhh—" He rolled over again, pulling his face out of the pillow this time before he spoke. "Gods, did you sleep at all?"

"Yes," Nico lied, not wanting to worry him. "I slept for a few hours." But the tired look in his eyes and the weak, weary tone to his voice said otherwise, and it wasn't that hard to tell.

"Liar," Leo said, but he didn't say anything more than that. He was (even if it was a bit selfish) glad that Nico was there, awake, the entire night, because although the memories were fuzzy, they were there: Nico putting a hand on his shoulder while he cried, or whispering something calming after he woke up from a nightmare. If Nico had been asleep, it would've been just the same as facing it alone.

"Whatever," Nico muttered, "let's just go eat breakfast before we wake up everyone else." He put his ear against the door, making sure there was nothing else on board stirring, before opening it and walking down to the dining room.

Leo just yawned and followed slowly, feeling the chill of the early morning air bring him back to his senses. He glanced around him. The last time he was in this room was just before summoning his mother's spirit. It felt like an eternity away, even if it only happened hours before. "Boy, I'm starved," he finally said, breaking the silence.

Nico set dishes out in front of them both, although he hardly had an appetite. In fact, ever since he came back from Tartarus, all he'd been consuming for the most part, was ambrosia and nectar—not exactly healthy, considering the nasty side-effect of burning up from the inside out. With a sigh, he willed the bowl in front of him to fill with milk and cereal.

Leo's plate, on the other hand, already had a stack of waffles with a heaping ton of syrup and whipped cream, along with eggs and bacon on the side. "Dude. That's _all _you're eating?" he asked with a mouth full of waffle.

"Don't speak until you're done chewing," Nico grumbled, slightly disgusted but also slightly amused. "And yes, I prefer not to stuff myself, unlike you."

"Yeah, yeah, sure. And I thought _I _was scrawny," Leo chuckled. It was the first time he'd really laughed for a while, and it felt good. Whatever sadness and uneasiness had settled itself in the pit of his stomach had left for now, and been replaced by a few mouthfuls of scrambled eggs.

Nico was slightly amazed at this—how could Leo just go back to normal, as though nothing had happened? His eyes were red and expression tired, making it obvious enough that he'd been crying all night. But his attitude seemed to be normal, happy-go-lucky Leo Valdez.

He ate a few spoonfuls of cereal, and although he wasn't hungry, it was a good feeling to swallow real food rather than godly food that reminded him all too much of the past. The plate magically cleared itself, ready to be put back into the cabinet.

He was about to say something, when Leo shoved the last mouthful of waffle into his mouth, announcing, "Done!" and his plate, too, cleared itself.

Nico scowled, but it was a scowl that almost turned into a smile, because it seemed like Leo was truly back to normal. Some part of him deep down knew that wasn't true, but it was nice to see his friend even a little bit happy. "You're obnoxious."

"Am I? I'll have to add that to the list of things I excel at being," Leo answered, pretending to make a mental note of it. The food had helped him to forget about the previous night—but how do you totally forget something like that? _'Keep moving,' _he told himself whenever his thoughts went to those places, _'It's done. The only direction is forward.'_

"Let's go—" Nico began to say, but was interrupted when he heard footsteps. "...Hello?"

Jason walked in and he didn't look very happy, but Leo couldn't seem to place his mood. Vaguely annoyed, a bit tired, but still mellow, as though he was still deciding whether or not to be angry. "Were you two ever going to wake us up?" he asked, frowning disappointedly.

Leo gulped, because even if they were friends, Jason was still intimidating when he was mad. "Uh..." he began to speak, but Nico chimed in before he could make a fool out of himself.

"We were letting you guys sleep longer," he explained. "We all need our rest, and you're no exception. With all due respect, this isn't like camp, Jason. We're a team now." What he didn't say was, 'and you aren't the praetor out here.'

Leo was almost sure that Jason was going to fry him with a lightning bolt for that, when he noticed that Nico was standing up straight. He didn't seem to be threatening or challenging, he was only showing that he wasn't afraid. No matter how weak and pale and skinny he was, he had an aura of power around him, and his dark eyes held a stare so intense that even Jason hesitated.

"I appreciate it, but..." Jason struggled to keep Nico's gaze, and he sighed. "Fine," he finally said, and his expression softened a bit. "I guess you're right, Nico," he admitted, and for some reason, Leo got the feeling that wasn't the first time he'd said it. "But you guys get some rest, too. I'm sure it was a long night." And Jason meant it—he could see easily enough that Leo had been crying for whatever reason, and that Nico was about ready to collapse from exhaustion. But he didn't mention anything about it—best to leave these things alone.

Nico smiled slightly and nodded. "Come on, Leo, let's go wake the rest of them up," he said, and he started to leave.

"So... what?" Leo gave Nico a somewhat confused look as they walked. "You and Jason have some history or something?"

"Kind of. I was the Ambassador of Pluto at Camp Jupiter. He, Reyna, and I worked together quite a bit, since I knew more about what was going on outside of camp." Nico shrugged, like it was nothing, but Leo knew he was more important than he was making it out to be. "I wasn't very close to them, if you're wondering. I didn't fit in there—I'm a Greek," he said. "Honestly? I went mostly to see Hazel and sometimes Frank, but since I could help, I did. Didn't change the fact that I was the outsider over there."

_The outsider._

The words hit Leo in some part of him that was unguarded, and he winced slightly. "Yeah, I see what you mean," he answered, voice a bit hollow. He began to think of things from Nico's perspective—traveling the country alone, carrying the burden of a secret that had the potential to start a war. His mind flashed back to his own time, running away, carrying the secret that he'd killed his mother. _'You didn't kill her,' _he had to remind himself, and he could hear his mother's voice telling him he didn't do anything wrong.

Nico raised a brow, opening his mouth to say something, but decided that it would be best to just let Leo think. The guy was talkative enough—might as well enjoy the silence while it lasted. But that was the thing, he couldn't enjoy it, because seeing Leo think was a rather unsettling thing. It was almost as though Nico could hear the gears, clicking and whirring inside his head, making him wonder more than anything what that idiotic son of Hephaestus had on his mind.

As they arrived at the doors of the bunks, Leo finally spoke—but not to him. "HAZEL! ZHANG! BEAUTY QUEEN!" he shouted so loud he made the son of Hades flinch, banging on the doors of the three sleeping demigods. "Up and at 'em!"

Groans were heard from behind the doors, and Leo could've sworn he heard Frank mutter a 'dang it, Valdez!' and he just chuckled. "Sounds like they're up," he concluded with a grin, an impish glint in his eyes.

"You're heartless," Nico mumbled, feeling a little sorry for the three of them.

The first one out of their room was Piper, with her messed up hair and baggy pajamas, flinching as soon as she saw them. "You guys look kind of..." She wondered how to word it without offending them. "Tired," was all she could say, but she knew it was more than that.

Before they could even answer, Hazel walked out next, wearing a tired expression before her eyes caught theirs, and she gasped. "Oh, gods!"

"Way to be subtle," Leo said under his breath, rolling his eyes and chuckling playfully.

"I'm sorry!" she said quickly, but she ran up and put her hand protectively on Nico's shoulder. "You two look awful! Did something happen?"

The two boys exchanged a quick glance, and Nico answered, "A lot of things happened, but we're fine. Don't worry, Hazel." And he smiled at her—a real, genuine smile—because being around Hazel made him do that.

Frank walked out next, and he was about to glare at Leo, before he took a closer look at the two of them. "Geez," he said, "is everything alright?"

"Yes, yes, for the hundredth time, we're fine!" Leo answered, using hand gestures to emphasize the point. "Now get on down to the mess hall and eat breakfast before a monster gets here first," he told them, "Jason's already down there." He purposely rested his gaze on Piper and winked, and she just scowled at him.

"Alright," the three of them said, but Hazel frowned. "Are you sure you don't need anything?" Typical Hazel.

"Fine, we're fine," Leo waved her off, and Hazel really had no other option than to listen to him and leave with the others even if she knew something was wrong. She just hoped that the two boys could work it out for themselves without screwing up too royally.

"Now," Leo said, turning to face Nico. "You, sir, need some sleep."

He would have protested, but instead he just yawned. "Percy's room..." he mumbled, trying to say that he didn't want to sleep there. For some reason, everything about it just made him feel worse. More guilty. More desperate.

Leo seemed to understand immediately. "Alright, kiddo, c'mon," he said, and soon, Nico was flopped down on a bed that wasn't his, wasn't Percy's, but belonged to none other than Admiral Leo Valdez, and he felt himself smile. Just a little bit, but he smiled, because for once, instead of saltwater and ocean wind, his bed smelled of motor oil and a fireplace.


	11. It's not your fault

Nico couldn't remember falling asleep, probably because it happened so fast. All he knew when he woke up was that he was there, he was watching Percy and Annabeth, falling down into that (literal) hell hole of a place. All he could think was that it was his fault, that he could've, should've, yet didn't do something.

Second time Percy's landed himself in the Underworld, thanks to him. Except this time, things were much, much worse.

He screamed, clutching the blankets to his chest with his eyes shut tight, because he was scared. Too scared to realize that he wasn't in Percy's room, and that he'd woken up the mechanic, who had been dozing lightly in a chair across the room, drooling on Archimedes' notes that littered his desk.

"Nico?" Leo murmured, still a bit dazed. _'Gross,' _he thought, wiping his mouth on his sleeve, _'Archimedes probably wouldn't be too happy about that.' _

Nico shuddered with fear, tears threatening to pour from his eyes. He was breathing heavily, which was hard on his lungs, and he coughed into the blankets. "My fault," he choked out, "It was all my fault." Still struggling to breathe, he pulled the sheets over his face and cried for all it was worth.

"Hey there, buddy," Leo said gently, but he winced as he heard Nico coughing. "Ah..." He awkwardly tried to pull the blankets away, afraid that the kid would end up suffocating in the mess of sheets. "C'mon, Nico," he pleaded, tugging at the blanket harder.

After a few more seconds, Nico gave up and loosened his grip on the blanket, allowing it to be taken away. "Leo," he said in a weak voice, "Leo, please. Just leave me alone." His voice was quavering so much that it was a marvel that Leo even understood him, but it wasn't just his words that shook—his entire frame trembled.

Leo just frowned, because just that morning in the dining hall, Nico seemed so much stronger. Older. More confident. But now? He shivered, despite the fact that it was warm in the room, and suddenly he looked much too young and much too vulnerable to be the powerful Ambassador of Pluto. "No can do, sorry," he answered nonchalantly, laying down next to him.

"I said _go," _Nico ordered, though his voice didn't hold much authority. "Leo, I—I don't want..." he trailed off, swallowing down more tears.

"It's my room, first of all. And second of all, everyone else on board is still awake out there. There's nowhere I _can _go, even if I wanted to. And you know me—you really think I'd pass up this opportunity to annoy you?" He smiled for a moment, before letting it fade. "Kidding."

For a moment, no one said anything. Nico was debating whether or not it would be worth it to continue protesting, when he decided that Leo, for once, was right. It was already kind enough of him to let him stay in his bed—he couldn't kick the guy out. All he could think to say was, "It's a long fall."

Leo's heart just about stopped. Of course Nico had been dreaming of Tartarus; what else would make someone scream in such agony? He couldn't answer. No matter what he said, it would be pointless. No string of words would undo what he had seen.

"It's a long fall," he repeated, "and I let them go."

If it was possible for Leo to be any more speechless, he was. He'd forgotten that Nico was there at the edge, watching those two hang on for dear life, watching them let go. Suddenly, the words he'd said when he woke up—_my fault!—_made sense. "No."

"No?" Nico asked, not sure what Leo meant.

"It... It's not your fault, Nico." He flashed back to when he'd fired on the Romans. He swore to himself that he wouldn't let Nico feel that type of guilt—nobody deserved that. "Please believe me," he pleaded, "None of it was your fault."

"But the way he looked at me, Leo," Nico muttered miserably. "Percy was... He was so scared."

Everything about that was wrong. For months at Camp Half-Blood, Leo had heard everyone babble on and on about the missing Percy Jackson—Percy this, Percy that, battled this person, completed this quest, blah, blah, blah—and Leo was overjoyed that _he _was chosen to build the ship to retrieve him.

Sure, when they'd got there, Percy was wearing a huge purple bedsheet and he looked like an ordinary guy with his arms around Hazel and Frank, but one look at him and Leo knew. This guy was powerful, and any amount of rumors and storytelling at camp would never live up to the real thing.

Even if it kind of sucked that their first real conversation was Percy yelling at him for firing on the Romans, the guy was a hero and nothing less.

Percy Jackson was scared, and it was so, so wrong.

Unable to really respond to that, Leo just frowned, looking just as miserable as Nico did. And he knew something—something he hadn't talked to Nico about. He knew that it was all his fault, not Nico's, all his fault because of that damn stupid fortune cookie. But he didn't say anything, because what could words do now? It was done.

He stared up at his ceiling, and then he glanced at Nico. Very, very slowly, he put an arm around him, then another. Because when words failed, what else was there? Unlike the last time Leo tried to hug him, Nico didn't protest at all, he just let himself stay there, totally still in the mechanic's arms.

Though he had been trembling before, he felt it kind of melt away with Leo there, because Leo was just so _warm. _Nico couldn't even remember the last time he'd truly felt warm before talking to Leo, just because... well, Tartarus was a very, very cold place. He shifted a bit, before letting out a sigh. He was in a bed that wasn't his, being held in arms that belonged to a person he once hated.

In Leo's embrace, he let himself cry. But he counted—_one, two, three... _all the way to ten—and then he swallowed down his sobs, refusing to let himself go on after that. Enough was enough.

Leo said nothing, even when he felt tears soaking his t-shirt. After a while, he wasn't even sure if he was comforting Nico, or if he was doing this for himself. Because of course, he blamed himself for what had happened, but Nico blamed himself, too. Somehow, knowing that they shared that painful guilt was enough to lessen it, even a little.

Minutes passed. Fifteen, twenty—the two had kind of lost track of time. Eventually, though, Leo listened and heard that Nico's breathing had steadied, and his figure went limp. The boy had fallen asleep in his arms.

It was calming to hold a sleeping person like that, for some reason. Leo pulled him closer for a moment, holding him securely, yet gently, and he was almost ready to fall asleep himself, but he heard something.

Footsteps, a door opening.

With extreme care, like he was working with a fragile machine, he slipped Nico out of his hold and laid the boy's head on the pillow, pulling the blanket up to his chin. "Sleep well, buddy," he whispered, and he could've sworn that Nico smiled in his sleep.

Then, a brow raised in cautious curiosity, he opened the door a crack. Hazel had just walked out of Percy's room.

_'Oh gods,' _he thought, _'she's looking for Nico. She must be worried sick.' _But the expression on her face wasn't worry or concern, it was actually a pleasant smile, the kind of thing that made Leo want to stare at her for a few seconds longer. _'Snap out of it,' _he scolded himself, _'that's Frank's girl.' _Even so, he let himself stare at her for a second too long and she noticed him.

"Leo?" Hazel called out in a hushed tone.

Leo blushed, having been caught peeking through the door frame at her. Quietly, he slipped out into the hall and shut the door behind him. "Yup, that's me," he answered sheepishly, letting out a nervous chuckle.

Without warning, she leaned forward and pulled him into a hug, and Leo was almost certain that his heart would burst right there. She held him closely, and it took him a second to return the gesture.

"H-Hazel?" he stammered, not sure of what was going on. "What... uh, what are you doing?"

"I'm thanking you, Leo Valdez." She pulled herself out of the hug. "Nico's in your room, isn't he?"

"What? No, he isn't," he immediately answered, but it was no use hiding it. "Alright, he kind of is. But what're you doing out here?"

"I... I heard him scream. We all figured he was having nightmares, and I didn't want him to be down here all alone... But I should have known." She smiled. "You _are _just like S—" Her voice faltered, and she just said, "He never broke a promise to me, either."

Leo racked his mind for what she was talking about, when it occurred to him. He'd promised her days beforehand, to watch over Nico while Hazel wasn't there. "Oh."

"Nico... I was worried about him, since he was so different after Tartarus. He was so sure he'd never fit in with us, and I almost believed him, but you didn't let that happen. You really did take care of him, Leo." She put a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you."

"Aw, c'mon, that was nothing," he laughed. Really, compared to what Nico had done for him... it really was nothing, he thought. "He's a good kid. I love angst-y, brooding fourteen year-olds!" he joked, and Hazel just rolled her eyes.

"Okay, I won't tell the others about this, but I have to get back up there." She turned around to leave, but she glanced back. "Tell Nico that I love him when he wakes up, okay?"

"Of course," he answered, and she was on her way. He strolled casually back into the room, and he was relieved to see that Nico was still asleep. He sat down at the desk again, tinkering with a machine for a while, until he let himself doze off in his seat again.

What he didn't know was that Nico was awake, silently listening to his conversation with Hazel. Even if Leo wasn't hugging him anymore, he felt warmed to the bone just listening to his sister speak like that. _"Tell Nico that I love him." _The words filled him with such emotion that he shed a single tear, quickly wiped away before Leo could return.

Looking at the sleeping son of Hephaestus out of one eye, Nico smiled. Swiftly, he got up and took a spare blanket, draping it over his shoulders, before lying back down in the bed. He fell back into slumber rather quickly, and got the feeling that he wouldn't have anymore nightmares this time.


	12. Wake up

_**_Author's Note: Hey, you guys! First thing, this story has gotten much more feedback from than I'd ever expected, so thank you all very much! You're wonderful readers. Second, do you guys think this is getting too long? I still have many more ideas for how their relationship could progress, but I don't want it to get repetitious or boring. You can give me suggestions on anything you'd like to see improved on, or if I should end it, or little scenarios you'd like me to include. Thanks, and enjoy!**

_Knock. Knock._

"Uh, hello?" Frank waited outside Leo's door, not eager to open it and barge in uninvited. "Leo, are you up yet?" No answer. "Maybe I should just go get Nico, first..." he muttered to himself, glancing at Percy's room, but he figured that Nico needed his rest more than Leo did.

Of course, Hazel had insisted—really, _really _insisted—she had to be the one to wake the boys up, but Frank could see how tired she was in her eyes. "Go on to bed," he told her, despite her protesting, "I'll get them up, don't worry."

Nico's eyes shot open, and he knew they were screwed as soon as he heard Frank's voice. "Leo!" he hissed, "Leo, get up!"

Slowly, the mechanic's eyes fluttered open, and he mumbled, "Nnh... what is it, Nico? Just ten more minutes, man..." He started to doze off again, until he heard more knocks at the door. He sat up in his chair, cursing under his breath. "Who's out there?" he whispered to Nico. Before he could answer—

"Leo, I swear I'm gonna..." Frank was getting more and more frustrated as time passed, because he was exhausted from a long day, too. "C'mon, Valdez. Time for you and Nico to take over for the night."

Leo's eyes widened. _'Frank? It really had to be Frank?' _he thought to himself, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, I-I'm up!" he answered nervously, trying to figure out how to hide Nico. Put him in the closet? Yeah, that would work, minus the fact that he was missing something important: a closet. _'Idiot, why didn't you build these rooms with closets?' _he scolded himself, but figured he could redesign the bunks another day.

He thought for a moment, before pointing under the bed hopefully. That wonderful suggestion earned him an I'll-kill-you-if-you-even-think-about-it glare from Nico, who was still sitting silently on the bed, before his eyes widened in horror. He mouthed two words: _the door._

Leo turned to see that Frank had started to open the door, just a bit. "About time you got up..."

"Crap—uh... don't come in here!" Leo shouted, putting his hands against the door to keep him from opening it any more. "I... I'm..." He fumbled over his words, looking for an excuse, before blurting out, "...indecent!" On the list of all the stupid things he'd said (and it was a rather long list), he had a feeling that this ranked very, very high.

Frank turned red and backed away from the door like it was about to explode. "Okay, geez," he muttered, "why didn't you just say so?" He shifted uncomfortably, before saying, "I'll go get Nico while you... you know, put on some clothes."

"No wait!" Realizing he was out of options, he threw the door open and grabbed Frank by the arm to stop him from leaving.

"LEO!" Frank screamed, covering his eyes. "Are you crazy?!" He didn't dare to peek through his fingers. "I—I thought you were getting dressed!"

Now, there were a lot of things that Leo could have said in response, like maybe, 'I'm already dressed, you can open your eyes,' but instead, he just doubled over, busting into a full-fledged laughter fit.

"What are you _doing?" _Frank demanded, still holding a hand over his eyes. "Please tell me you're dressed..."

"F-Frank," Leo stumbled over his words, suppressing chuckles, "yeah, man. I'm dressed." He let out a long sigh, stomach hurting from laughing so hard.

The shapeshifter pulled his hand away from his face, and much to his relief, Leo was in an orange camp t-shirt and shorts. Still beet red in the face, he mumbled, "You change fast."

"Sure I do," was all Leo said, before glancing back into his room uneasily. "Don't wake up Nico, seriously. I'll do it." He bit his lip, hoping that for once, things would go his way and Frank would just go to bed.

No such luck.

"Why should I trust you?" he asked, turning in the direction of Percy's bunk. "You probably just want to play a prank on him, or something. You know he'll kill you if you do."

"A prank? I would never!" He scoffed, as though he was thoroughly offended by the accusation. "I just want to let the kid get some more rest. Is it that hard to believe I'm trying to do a nice thing, Zhang?"

"Actually, yes." He would have said more, when out of the corner of his eye, he glanced into Leo's room through the open door. "What's that on your bed...?"

Nico muttered a curse under his breath when he heard that. He was hoping Frank wouldn't notice him, since he was curled up, hiding under the blankets. _'Leo, don't screw this up,' _he thought, trying to stay as still as possible in the sheets.

"My what?" Leo asked, desperately trying to steer Frank in the other direction. "Oh, that's nothing. Don't worry about it. Now get to bed! Can't have you losing beauty sleep over something like this—gods know you need it."

"Hey!" Frank huffed, crossing his arms. "Seriously though, you're a worse liar than I am. And that's saying something." He took a step back, opening Leo's door a bit more. "There's... something really huge on your bed. Whatever that thing is, it doesn't look like it could be a good idea."

_'That thing?' _Nico thought to himself, slightly offended.

"J-Just a new piece of machinery for the ship!" Leo shut the door quickly, a wild look in his eyes that screamed, 'guilty!'

"Oh, sure," Frank said sarcastically. "That's why you hid it underneath your blankets, in your bed. How dumb do you think I am?" He paused for a second, before frowning and saying, "Don't answer that." Before Leo could stop him, he opened the door and ran in, stopping at the bed.

Nico's heart beat quickly in his chest. What would it look like if Frank found Nico _in Leo's bed? _It was one thing for Hazel to find them in the same room, but... this was totally different. No amount of explanation would be able to cover for them this time.

With lightning quick speed, Leo dashed in and stood between Frank and the bed. "Don't look there! It's a... okay, you caught me! Haha, it was a prank. I'll dispose of all of this junk later, thank you for teaching me a valuable life lesson about not playing practical jokes on others. I'll remember it. Now _leave." _

"I don't think so," he said. Leo, being much shorter and much lighter than Frank, was pushed aside rather easily. He gripped the blankets and pulled at them, ready to unveil whatever Leo was hiding, when... the blankets pulled back. "Gah, what?" He jumped back in surprise. "What's under there?" But he had a feeling he already knew.

Leo just stared at him, unable to form an answer this time. Nico, under the sheets, held his breath.

"Oh, gods." Realization hit Frank like a tidal wave, and it left an uneasy silence in the conversation. "You—You mean... You guys... All this time he's been... And you..." He felt heat rise to his cheeks, and he let go of the blanket. "Nico?"

Nico bit his lip. What was he supposed to say? "Uh... hi," he mumbled, pulling the blanket off his face.

"Gods, why do _I _always have to find them?" he muttered, shaking his head. "Did you guys, like..." Frank didn't even bother to finish that thought, because the idea was just too wild. "No. No, of course not... right?"

"Gods, no." Nico looked absolutely disgusted, but a little flustered, too. "Leo and I were just talking, and I fell asleep here. _Nothing _more."

"Oh... So, Leo, I guess you weren't lying when you said you didn't have feelings for Hazel." Frank shrugged.

"No, of course not, man," Leo said. Honestly, he wasn't sure of his feelings for her—it was complicated, to put it in the least. A few seconds of silence passed, and then he realized what Frank was getting at. "Wait. I don't—Dude, I _don't _have a thing for Nico, either!"

Frank just snickered.

"Zhang, get out of here." Leo pointed to the door. "You're at least 50% less annoying when you're asleep."

"Alright, but I'm guessing you don't want Coach Hedge or Jason to know about this, huh?" he asked. "Don't worry, I won't tell them. And I won't tell Piper—that daughter of Aphrodite would _love _this, but I'm not that cruel." He smiled, and the awkwardness in the atmosphere eased up a bit. "Hazel already knows, doesn't she?"

"Yup," Leo answered. "But I swear, it's not like we're..." He cleared his throat, trying to figure out how to place his words.

"I know," he said, "Well, anyway, good night you two. See you in the morning." And with that, he left, glad to see that Nico had finally found a good friend—even if it was the person he least expected it to be.

"Well _that _was a wonderful way to start of the day," Leo joked. "Er, night." He chuckled lightly, before getting quiet and glancing at the other. "Oh, your sister told me to tell you that she loves you."

Nico nodded, lips curling upward in a slight smile. "Thanks for telling me. Well actually, thanks for everything."

"Yeah, same. Thanks for everything, buddy," Leo answered, remembering the feel of a warm blanket on his shoulders. "Now, how's about we go get some breakfast?"

"At seven in the evening?"

"Of course."


	13. Unexpected Visit

**Author's Note: Bit of a different chapter today, and it's kinda on the longer side, too. Keep in mind... I wrote this while really tired, so tell me if anything seems OOC or just plain weird, and I'll figure out some way to fix it, haha. As always, thanks for everything and enjoy!**

"C'mon, Nico," Leo said, patting his friend on the shoulder. "You've got to eat a _little _more than that or you'll starve, man!"

"No." Nico flinched at the contact, and shifted his chair a few inches away. "I already said I'm not hungry," he answered, but he sort of knew that Leo was right. Today for breakfast, all he was eating a few pieces of dry toast and a cup of tea—not much, as usual.

Leo glanced down at his plate—a huge omelette with just about everything under the sun cooked into it, a blueberry muffin, and a tall glass of orange juice. "At least have some of the muffin," he suggested, holding out the pastry.

"...Fine," Nico muttered, rolling his eyes as he took the muffin from Leo's hand. He examined it for a second or two, before shrugging and taking a bite out of it. It was perfectly made—warm, fluffy, sweet—and the taste made him smile. The food on the _Argo II _was always great; after all, magic was a pretty reliable cook.

"Taste good?" Leo asked, happy to see Nico eating something. "Have the rest, I don't really think I could eat anything more," he offered, letting out a satisfied sigh. His plate cleared itself as he took the last few sips of his orange juice, before putting the dishes away.

Though Nico didn't really feel the slightest bit hungry, he forced himself to eat more of the muffin, eventually finishing it. Tossing the wrapper into the trash, he turned to Leo. "Let's go."

The two left the dining room and walked back to the deck at a leisurely pace, enjoying the stillness that the night had to offer. Leo busied himself, fiddling with a rubberband, toothpicks he stole from the dining room, copper wire, and a couple of nuts and bolts. After a few minutes or so, he grinned and turned to Nico. "Watch this!"

Nico grimaced in anticipation, as though whatever Leo had conjured up was sure to be bad news. Naturally, he was right.

Leo pulled the rubberband back, then loaded the contraption with nuts and bolts. As he let go of the band, it sprang back into place, flinging the tiny metal pieces all over the floor, like an upgraded slingshot of sorts. "Amazing, right?"

"Hardly," Nico answered, even if he was somewhat impressed at how Leo could just toss these things together like it was nothing. "Someone's going to slip on those, you know."

"Ten bucks it'll be Coach Hedge," Leo countered, carefully stepping over the pieces, deliberately not picking a single one up.

Nico glared at him, then bent down, meticulously gathering each and every last piece into his hand. He got up, fist closed around the scrap metal, and tapped Leo. "Here," he said, dropping the tiny pieces of ammunition into his hand.

"Hmm," Leo mused, "you're a good person. I mean, I never would've picked those things up. But you couldn't leave 'em, could you?" He chuckled, reaching up to ruffle Nico's hair. "That's nice of you, though in my defense, I really would've paid to see Hedge fall."

"Stop, don't touch me. Cleaning up after you doesn't make me a good person," Nico muttered, straightening out his hair. He wasn't used to people treating him like this—like a kid—and he wasn't sure whether to be glad or angry or just plain confused. It made him happier than anything that Leo wasn't scared of him. But the way Leo undermined his authority was irritating, to put it in the least. Wasn't he Nico di Angelo, powerful son of Hades, a force not to be reckoned with?

With a sigh, he stared over the edge of the ship, still not looking back at the mechanic standing next to him.

Leo noticed his mood, and frowned. "Sorry," he said, but he didn't sound very sorry at all. "I know you're not the friendliest guy out there, it's just that..." He paused, opening his palm to look down at the nuts and bolts in his hand. "Well, ever since I figured out about Sammy and Hazel, I've felt like I had to protect her."

Nico raised a brow at this. Protecting Hazel was his job, wasn't it? Though, considering the fact that ever since he'd gotten out of Tartarus, Hazel spent her every waking moment tending to his needs, he figured he wasn't doing a very good job. "What does this have to do with me?" he asked.

"I guess I get the feeling that if Sammy were here..." Leo couldn't seem to shake the feeling that Sammy was so much _better _than he was, but he pushed the thought away. "Well, lately I just feel like I have to take care of you—both of you. It's what he'd want, after all. And who am I to go against a dead man's wishes?"

Nico felt his expression soften, almost into a smile. Being protected—it was something he didn't get to experience often. "Alright, fine," he agreed. "But I still think you're twice as immature as me."

"And I've got no doubt that I am," Leo answered, and the moment would've been rather sweet, if Leo hadn't gotten a cold chill up his spine right after. He shivered, then looked up at Nico with a dull look in his eyes, like he wasn't all there.

"Leo?" Nico looked concerned, maybe even a bit frightened. "Are you... alright?"

_"Not Leo," _a voice rasped. It sounded like Leo, but it wasn't him. It was darker, colder.

Nico drew his sword and furrowed his brow in thought, knowing he'd seen something like this before. "_Eidolon!_" he said out loud, finally coming across the correct word. "But... But that's wrong. Hazel told me about what happened. You _eidola _are supposed to stay trapped down there..."

_"Idiots. They were all idiots," _the voice said again, and it made Nico uneasy to hear it coming from Leo's mouth. _"You, too. Son of Hades, do you not realize I am a different spirit? Those three were not the only _eidola _out there."_

Nico felt anger well up inside of him, but he kept it in check. He wanted more than anything to fight the thing—but how? It was a spirit, for one thing, and it was in Leo's body, for another. "What are you here for?"

_"Gaea. She promised me new life, if I could get you, Nico di Angelo." _The way the spirit said his name was full of disgust, as though the very words were poison in its mouth.

"Me? Why..." He didn't even bother. He was the guide to the Doors of Death, a powerful demigod who could tip the scales in any one direction in this war. And there was the secret with Hazel... but that was another story.

_"Kill you. I'm here to kill you." _

Nico wasn't sure what he was more angry at—that his friend's body was being taken over by a spirit, or that the spirit had used _Leo_, of all people, to kill him. Because seriously, it would be rather pathetic, he thought, to die at the hands of Leo, the Idiot Commander of the _Argo II. _

He straightened and held out his sword. "_Eidolon." _He manipulated the tone of his voice, trying to channel his anger into fear. "You are a mere spirit! Do you think you can kill me, Prince of Hades himself? King of Ghosts?"

For a moment, the spirit faltered in Leo's body. _"Hades will be no more. Gaea promised me that, child."_

"Leave at once, and I will spare you!" Nico's hand tightened around the hilt of his sword. He knew he would never use it in this fight, because it still was Leo's body, but the thing was still an intimidating weapon. Taking in a deep breath, he glared, an intense, hateful fire burning in his eyes. "To the Underworld!" he shouted, forcing energy into his voice. It was a thousand times worse than what he'd done to Leo the other night, and he could feel the power ringing in the air. "BE GONE!"

_"The end of the world is at hand," _was all the spirit said, before the life slowly returned to Leo's eyes. "What—" He shivered like he was freezing, and crumpled to his knees. "What just happened, Nico?"

But Nico couldn't bring himself to answer. His other powers drained him, but manipulating fear was different. He trembled, feeling more terrified than tired. "Leo? S-Say something, Leo. It's you?"

"Yeah, buddy," Leo answered in his usual tone of voice. "What's wrong?" He got himself to his feet, pulling Nico into a hug. "It's okay, I'm here."

Nico swallowed, and for the first time, raised his arms to return Leo's hug. "You're cold," he said, still holding him tightly, "Leo, you're freezing." Nico pulled off his coat and wrapped it around the older, whose skin was almost icy to the touch.

"..._Eidolon,_" Leo murmured, remembering this feeling. "I usually never feel cold, except for when I..." His voice faltered, with his mind flashing back to when he fired on the Romans. "Oh, gods, Nico. Did I... Did I hurt you?" He began to look for wounds or bruises, but Nico seemed unscathed.

"No," Nico said. "I banished it back to the Underworld. Everything's fine." He frowned, like he didn't believe what he was saying. "Let's sit down."

"Sure, yeah," Leo agreed, and the two walked back up to the ledge where they'd sat and spoken that first night. "Nico, I'm sorry. I didn't... I couldn't... Gods, I hate that feeling." He shivered again, even in Nico's jacket.

"Relax. The thing is gone. Gaea should have known she couldn't kill me with a ghost," Nico said, trying to sound more reassuring.

"K—Kill you?" Leo's eyes widened in horror. "Nico, what did I do to you?"

"It wasn't you. And nothing, I didn't let it get that far." Nico meant what he said, but it didn't change the fact that he was terrified beyond belief.

"Are you sure? What did it say? I remember some things... but I don't understand." It wasn't the _eidolon's _words that he didn't understand, it was how Nico was acting. He looked absolutely terrified, even if he claimed everything was under control.

"Nothing, nothing!" Nico growled, feeling his temper get the better of him. "Stop asking questions!"

Leo flinched. "Are you... okay?"

Nico took a deep breath. "I'm your guide to the Doors of Death. I'm a son of Hades. It's simple—Gaea wants me dead. That's all the spirit said. Are you happy?" He left out the detail with Hazel, because he barely trusted himself with that secret, let alone Leo or anyone else.

"I know that," he said, "I just want to know if you're okay."

Nico felt emotion well up in his chest, because it was rare that he heard such sincerity and concern in someone's voice, especially Leo's. "I—I'll be fine," he managed out, before his voice caught in his throat. A few tears fell from his eyes, though he wasn't really sure why he was crying.

"I'm sorry. I guess that _eidola _just dig me, or something," he muttered, trying to joke half-heartedly.

Much to his surprise, Nico smiled.


	14. Afterwards

**Author's Note: Ah, sorry I've been adding so many 'author's notes' to the beginnings of these things! I guess I must love talking to you guys~ Haha, anyway, someone in the reviews mentioned wanting to know about Hazel/Nico's secret mentioned in the last chapter? Thing is, I can't tell you what it is, because I don't know. It's canon that they share a (dangerous) secret in the one-chapter preview of the House of Hades. I figured I'd include that tidbit of information because it fit, but other than that I really don't have many guesses as to what Nico could be hiding this time (I mean, of course I have my guesses, but that's not what you came here to read). I don't want to make something up, because... well, when the book actually does come out, whatever I wrote would probably go against canon. So, unfortunately, I won't be including the 'secret' thing. ;_; That's for Rick to handle. Aaand if you read all that nonsense, I'm sorry for wasting your time. Read and enjoy!**

Nico stared at the view over the mountains blankly, with a look of terror in his eyes that refused to leave. Why was this happening? People were out to kill him all the time; he should've been used to it by now. _'Yeah, but those people usually aren't in the bodies of my closest friends,' _his thoughts chimed in. Then, he realized he'd called Leo his closest friend, and felt embarrassed at himself.

Leo glanced at him, worry in his gaze. Overwhelming guilt tugged at his conscience, and his mind wandered back to what it felt like to have Percy yell at him after he'd fired on the Romans. The thought made him sad, and decided he'd rather receive a thousand lectures from Percy than have Annabeth and him be in Tartarus.

"Nico, I..." He wanted to apologize again, but Nico gave him a look that basically said to shut up. "It's kind of weird. Being possessed, I mean," he finally said, breaking the silence that had settled between them.

"Weird?" Nico almost cracked a smile. "You're body was taken over by one of the most aggressive spirits to come from the Underworld," he said, "and you're calling it _weird?"_

Leo chuckled in spite of himself. "You've got a better word?"

"Yes, actually," Nico answered. "I'm sure I could think of a thousand better words than just 'weird.'"

"Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but you've never actually been possessed by one of those guys. Me? Why, I'm practically an expert on having my body hijacked every now and then," he joked, but the thought weighed heavy on his heart. How many times would he have to put everyone on board in danger?

Nico was amazed to that Leo could treat the issue with such a light attitude. "An expert," he repeated, tempted to roll his eyes. He knew that wasn't true—that no one was an expert on _eidola, _nor were there any experts on other Underworld-ly things. The Underworld itself was a complete mystery, and would always be that way. Nico knew what happened when people tried to uncover those mysteries—after all, he was one of those people... and he didn't like what he saw.

"You're thinking of Tartarus," Leo guessed, but regretted as soon as he'd said it. No one ever brought up Tartarus on the ship—_especially _not in front of Nico.

Nico felt his hand clench into a fist at the name of the place, and he felt more terror build in his chest. He didn't want to answer Leo, mostly because... well, he was right. He took in a deep breath, trying to keep the images of that horrid place out of his mind.

"Sorry," Leo said quickly, but the fearful look in Nico's eyes concerned him. "You okay?"

"I don't know," Nico muttered. "Am I?"

Leo was hoping he wouldn't give an answer like that, because he honestly had no idea what to say. His immediate response would have been that of course he was okay, he was alive, wasn't he? But a look at Nico would tell anyone that this kid was slightly more _dead _than the average person. _'Can anyone be okay after coming out of Tartarus?' _he wondered, hoping to all the gods that the answer was yes, because Percy and Annabeth were down there as they spoke.

Without answering Nico's question (he decided that at the moment, it was rhetorical), he met his gaze seriously. "Um, are Percy and Annabeth—"

"Yes," Nico interrupted, cutting his question off. "They're... They're alive." What he didn't say was that they may have been alive, but each day their life force grew fainter and fainter, and each day he woke up, terrified that one day he would get that feeling of dread he got whenever someone close to him died.

"Alive? Are you—"

"Yes, I'm sure." Nico finished, cutting him off again. He didn't really feel eager to talk about it, but it became clear that Leo wasn't going to back down.

"You don't sound very sure," Leo muttered. "There's something you're not telling me."

"Leo, can you stop asking questions?" Nico snapped, sounding a bit harsher than he'd intended to. He exhaled. "Look," he said in a softer voice, "there are some things I need to keep to myself."

"But Percy and Annabeth were my friends, too," Leo insisted, then bit back a curse for having accidentally said 'were.' Sure, he'd barely known Percy and Annabeth intimidated him since the day they'd met, but he liked to consider them his friends nonetheless.

He grimaced slightly when Leo referred to them in the past tense, but he let it go. "Fading," he finally answered. He didn't want to tell Leo or anyone else, for fear they would just worry even more. "They're definitely alive, but Tartarus is the kind of place that sucks the life out of you. There are a lot of... things down there."

"Oh," Leo murmured, suddenly regretting having asked. "Thanks, I guess. For telling me."

"Don't thank me." Nico scowled, but underneath his bitter mood was crippling worry and fear that made him want to run from this mission. He was leading all his friends to their deaths, and worst of all, Percy had made him promise to pull through with this. Wasn't it just a short while ago that he was the hopeful little kid forcing promises onto people who would never be able to keep them?

"We'll save them," Leo reassured him. "We're demigods, aren't we? Always finding a way to do the impossible." And when he said that, he realized that he was saying it would be impossible to save Percy and Annabeth. Because it was, really—this entire quest was impossible, and they knew it from the start. Wonderful.

"Yeah, sure." Nico looked back at Leo, eyes a little sad, and still a whole lot scared. "I... I hate doing that thing," he muttered, changing the topic. "Manipulating fear, using an aura of death to intimidate enemies."

"No offense, but I hate it, too," Leo agreed with a shrug. "I mean, it's a great power and all, I just..." He didn't want to say he was scared. He was supposed to be brave, not scared of a pale, scrawny kid who was a year younger than he was.

"I'm scared of it, too," Nico admitted, which made both of them feel a little better. "But I have to use it, I had to, otherwise the _eidolon _would have..."

"Don't worry," Leo told him, trying to be the loyal protector he knew Sammy Valdez would have been. "It's a gift and a curse—isn't everything in our stinking lives?" He let out a bitter sounding laugh. "But really, thanks for sending that thing back to the Underworld... You're right, being possessed isn't just weird, it's... it's terrifying."

Nico nodded, and for some reason, Leo's words were somewhat reassuring. "No problem."

"If only you'd been here when I..." Leo didn't really feel like talking about the fact that he was responsible for starting a civil war that might just end the world, but it was the kind of thing he'd been needing to tell someone about for a while. "You know, blew up Camp Jupiter."

Again, Leo's oh-so-eloquent choice of words made Nico nearly smile. Blew up Camp Jupiter? A little blunt, Nico thought. "That wasn't you, Leo," he insisted, "You can't go on taking responsibility for Gaea's actions. I know you're not that much of an idiot... well, not usually."

"Yeah, but Nico..." Leo's voice faltered. "It was _my _hands, on _my _weapons, and Octavian... I don't even blame the guy for wanting to kill me."

"Octavian?" Nico almost laughed, because he'd forgotten about the plushie-murderer for a while. Back at Camp Jupiter, not many of the campers trusted Nico other than Frank and Hazel, but Octavian was especially opposed to the idea of an Ambassador of Pluto. "That guy wants to kill a lot of people, me included, so you're not the first."

"Well then, I must be real special, because I'm pretty sure I jumped to the top of his list pretty quickly," Leo commented, and they both laughed, maybe because Leo was funny, or maybe because they were both so frightened and emotionally strung out from the night that it was all they could think to do. The sound of laughter was surprising to them both—how could they laugh, considering where they were?

Nico regained his composure and stopped laughing, then shivered. The entire time, he was too wrapped up in his thoughts pounding in his mind, he didn't realize that Leo was still wearing his coat. He reached up, pressing his fingers to his face, and they felt like ice cubes. "Leo?"

"Yeah?" he asked, still oblivious to the fact that Nico was shaking in his own skin. His own body temperature had returned to normal—the chill had left him, a familiar feeling of _warm _spreading across his body, instead.

Nico hesitated, vaguely embarrassed at the idea of asking for his own coat back. He shouldn't need it, right? It wasn't _that _cold outside, was it? "...Nothing, actually."

Leo just frowned, and after a few moments of silence, with his ADHD getting the better of him, he reached into his pocket to pull out something to busy himself with. He dug around for the slingshot he knew he'd put into his toolbelt, when he realized he hadn't reached into his toolbelt pocket at all. He glanced at Nico, and realized the kid was still in a loose black t-shirt, sitting out in the cold nighttime air. "Your jacket!"

"Um, c-can I have it?" he asked, trying to rub his hands together to return the warmth to them.

Leo immediately pulled the coat off, wrapping it around Nico's shoulders. He didn't even bother to help him slip his arms through the sleeves before pulling him into a tight hug, channeling heat through his skin.

Nico felt himself relax in Leo's embrace, remembering what it felt like to be warm. "Thanks," he managed, but his still felt his hands trembling. In a last resort attempt to defrost his fingers, he reached up and pressed his hands to Leo's cheeks, which were hot to the touch.

"Nico, what are you... Oh." He looked confused for a second, when he realized what was going on. He almost flinched—that's how cold Nico's fingers had gotten. "Here," he murmured, pulling Nico's hands down and holding them in his own. He took a deep breath, feeling heat surge through his palms. "Better?"

"Yeah, thanks," he answered, pulling his now warm hands away from Leo's, slipping them into the sleeves of his coat. "I'll be fine, now that I've got my jacket."

"Sorry 'bout that, heh." Leo smiled sheepishly. "Kinda forgot I had it on." He didn't mention how safe he felt wearing the old, worn aviator jacket. "Geez, and I'm the one who said I'd protect you and Hazel..." he muttered, kind of upset at himself for his mistake.

"It's okay," Nico told him. "_Eidola _always suck the warmth out of their victims, so you needed the coat at first, anyway."

"Thanks," Leo said with a nod. He was a bit puzzled, because he was Leo Valdez, the fire kid—always warm. Yet Nico still put a blanket around his shoulders while he slept, even going so far as to give up his jacket for him. Those things really had warmed his heart, more than it could've ever warmed his body.


	15. Not a chapter

**Author's Note: Hey guys! No chapter today, just writing this little thing to say that I'm going on a trip for a little while, and won't be able to publish anything from where I am. ; ^ ; I'm sorry! I should be back sometime next week. But another thing I wanted to say was that... I have no idea what to write in the next chapter? Haha, I'm sure I'll think of something, but it would also be super awesome if you guys suggested ideas you might want me to write. You don't have to, but if anyone has some random scenario or something they want to see, I could probably put it in as a chapter. So, yeah. Thanks for everything, you guys!

P.S. This will be taken down when I get back, and I'll put up the new chapter instead!**


	16. A game of Rock Band?

**Author's Note: I'm back! And this is a long chapter to make up for it (not that much longer, just by like 200 words or so, haha). I'm not sure if I want to take down the last chapter, now that I think about it, do the reviews go away when you take down a chapter? I'm going to do all your suggestions eventually, so I don't want them to like, disappear before I have a chance to write them. Oh well, I'll leave it up for now. Thanks for all your help! This chapter was from the suggestion of Tazmaster who wanted to see Leo sing, and half of what karatekid34 said, which was Leo forcing Nico to sing(the other half of that suggestion I'll do in the next chapter). So, thanks, and enjoy! This was really fun to write, by the way.**

Nico sighed, tilting his head back to look up at the pitch black sky, speckled with stars. It felt so peaceful, especially after an encounter with an _eidolon. _He put his hands in the pockets of his coat, thankful to have it back. A small smile appeared on his lips as he remembered the feeling of Leo warming his hands, and he glanced over at the pyrokinetic.

Leo sat next to him, pulling rubber bands out of his toolbelt, shooting them in just about every possible direction. His eyes darted around the ship, finding various targets like the top of the mast, or the crates stacked in the corner, or the back of Festus' head (which the dragon was not very happy about). Next target: Nico's—

"What are you doing?" Nico snapped, grabbing Leo's wrist, which was inches away from his face with a fully loaded rubber band in place.

Leo yelped, dropping the rubber band in surprise. "Nothing, nothing!" he answered quickly, trying to tug his arm out of the other's grasp, with little success. "Not like I was gonna, y'know, shoot a rubber band at your face..."

"Leo..." Nico glared at him, debating twisting his wrist, before letting it drop. Instead, he picked up the rubber band, and shot it over the side of the boat. "The entire deck is littered with these things, and now you've got an angry dragon. Either you're really stupid, or you're really bored."

Leo frowned, silently mourning the loss of the little rubber band. "Hey, why not both?" he answered. "But now that I think about it, you're right. I _am _seriously bored right now, bro." He sighed, shoving his hands into his toolbelt pockets, rummaging around for something to do. Without realizing it, his hand had closed around a Wii remote. "I have an idea!"

"Should I be concerned?" Nico replied, but Leo was already hopping off the ledge, dragging Nico along with him. Something at the back of his mind told him it was going to be a long, long night.

"Yeah, probably," Leo answered with a shrug, when they stopped in front of the ship's TV set. Grinning like a madman, he hit the power button and pulled out the Wii remote from his pocket, swinging it around on the safety strap casually. "Ever play on one of these things?" he asked, gesturing to the Nintendo console.

"Uh, no," Nico muttered, but his eyes widened slightly. "Isn't... Isn't that the thing you use to control the ship?" he asked with concern in his tone at the way Leo was waving it around like it was nothing.

"Yeah, but it's not _just _for that. Great for games, killing bugs—you name it." He smirked, and just then the safety strap on the remote snapped, sending the contraption flying across the room. When it crashed into a nearby cabinet, the entire ship shuddered, violently lurching forward.

Nico went tumbling to the ground, shouting, "LEO!" He fell facefirst into the floor, which he probably was not very happy about.

The mechanic, on the other hand, quickly scrambled over to where the remote had fallen. He did a quick once-over to see if it was broken, then hit a complicated button sequence on it, causing the ship to return to normal. "Yes!" he exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air, very pleased with himself.

Nico groaned, struggling to his feet. "I... really hate you," he grumbled, glaring intensely at Leo. "I'm going to sleep. Goodbye."

"Hey, that's not fair!" Leo whined. "Then I'd have to do night watch all alone, man. Not cool." He doubted that the kid would _actually _go back to bed, but he wasn't going to take any risks. Sure, he could busy himself with work, work, and more work—but what fun was that? And besides, being alone on the ship at night was a little creepy at times.

Nico muttered something under his breath about irresponsibility and how much he hated floors, but even he knew deep down he'd never just up and leave Leo. Abandoning friends wasn't really his style. "Fine. What's this 'idea' you were talking about?" he asked, because as angry as he was, he was still vaguely curious about it.

"Glad you asked." Leo plugged the Wii system into the TV. "How's a little game of Rock Band, sound to you?" He was excited, because he'd spent a long while tricking out the game making it so that it had gameplay options for just about every song in the universe rather than just a few (with a bit of help from the Apollo cabin, of course).

_'Horrible,' _Nico almost said, but Leo was already dragging out a drumset, two guitars, and a microphone out of a storage closet. Rather than answering, he just stared at him in disbelief, before saying, "Did you really use closet space for all of that stuff?"

"Of course I did," he answered, as if it should have been obvious. "You're the first person I'm playing a game with, though—are you honored? Yes, or yes?"

Nico rolled his eyes, lips curling upwards in a faint smile. "I'm not, but let's play." A memory tugged at the back of his mind—he and Bianca, flipping through channels on a TV at Westover Hall, when a commercial for the latest gaming system, none other than the Nintendo Wii, had turned up. He begged and begged his older sister for the thing, despite knowing it was impossible. "I've always wanted to try one of these," he murmured, a little sadly.

"Great!" Leo grinned, pulling a second Wii remote out of his toolbelt, handing it to Nico.

They went through a few songs with Leo on drums, Nico on guitar, then switched places, then both played guitar and had a rather epic duel. Twenty minutes, nearly half an hour passed, before the small microphone (which had sat, unused on a chair) caught Leo's eye.

"Dude." He paused the song, staring at Nico, dead in the eye. "Sing-off."

"What?" Nico looked a little confused, and also a little peeved since he was doing really well on the guitar solo. Then, the words registered in his mind. "Gods, no," he answered quickly. "I don't sing."

"Awesome, 'cause neither do I!" Leo reached into his toolbelt, and another microphone had magically appeared—he _really _loved how he could have almost whatever he wanted, right in his belt. "Grab that one on the chair and start picking a song, bro."

"Trust me, you don't want to hear me sing," Nico said, gripping his guitar like he was hanging onto it for dear life. "I probably sound like a dying animal."

"Dying animals? I love dying animals! Doesn't everyone?" Leo was already too caught up in his American Idol fantasy or whatever to take no for an answer, so he just got up and shoved the mic into Nico's hands. "I, Supreme Commander of the _Argo II, _command thee to sing!"

"You can't be serious," Nico muttered, chuckling under his breath. "You can sing, I'll just play on guitar."

"Fine. But you're singing later, whether you like it or not, di Angelo," Leo promised. He scrolled through some songs, but a long list with over a thousand songs plus a dyslexic and ADHD brain was probably the worst combination in demigod history. With the titles and letteres swirling around in his mind, he just resorted to hitting the 'random song' option.

He didn't really pay too close attention to the song he chose, since he was still trying to clear his head of miscellaneous letters and numbers, until Nico turned to him with a strange look.

"...Didn't know you were into country," he said, "Or Taylor Swift, for that matter." He looked like he was trying not to laugh, as the countdown for the song started.

"What?" Leo felt heat rise to his cheeks. "I'm not! I just—the thing was on random, man! I don't lisetn to this stuff!" he protested, which caused him to miss the first two lines of "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together."

"Better start singing, Taylor," Nico teased, snickering to himself quietly as he hit every guitar note.

"...gods, uhm... hadn't seen each other in a month..." He mumbled the lyrics into the mic awkwardly, and totally embarrassed. "...said you needed space, what?"

"Oh, come on, you can do better," Nico told him with a smirk on his face, as he scored another combo, while Leo missed nearly every note. "You're boring the fans, Leo."

"Then you come around again and say, baby, I miss you and I swear I'm gonna change," he sang out a little louder, glaring at Nico angrily. "Trust me."

The song went on, and although Leo barely hit a single correct note and Nico was fairly sure his ears were bleeding, by the time the chorus rolled around, Leo was belting out the song at full volume.

"Ooh, we called it off again last night but ooh, this time," he sang, "I'm telling you, I'm telling you—" He stopped singing, putting the microphone up to Nico's face. "SING!"

"What?!" He fumbled with the guitar, missing a few notes. "—are never ever ever," he mumbled, not really sure what he was doing, "getting back together." Heat rose to his cheeks, and he pushed the microphone away from his face.

Leo gladly took the microphone back, grinning at Nico, who was trying very hard to continue with the guitar part of the song. The song went on, and eventually Leo finished, practically screaming the last note into the mic.

"You... got very into that," Nico noted, wincing as though his ears hurt. "New song. I'm _not _singing." Though Leo did miss a ton of notes, Nico had to say if he was singing seriously, the guy might've had a rather nice voice. "And don't just yell the lyrics, sing them."

"You can't tell me how to sing if you're not singing!" Leo protested, hitting the random button once more. The screen read "Demons" by Imagine Dragons. "Oh, I think I know this—"

"Dude." Nico picked up his mic, eyes not even meeting Leo's gaze. "I love this song." The countdown started, and he forgot all about his guitar. Sure, he wasn't the best singer, but Leo already embarrassed himself enough, so Nico could afford to sing one song. At least it wasn't Taylor Swift.

"Ahah! You're going to sing!" Leo grinned. "Lemme change the settings," he said, pausing it and changing it so that they were both on mic. "And 3, 2, 1."

"When the days are cold," Nico started singing, but he barely even needed to look back at the lyrics onscreen.

"And the cards all fold," Leo finished the line and smiled; he had to admit, Nico wasn't half-bad. His voice wasn't very strong, nor was it very distinctive, but it was a little sad-sounding, which was oddly fitting for a song like this, and a person like him.

They sang, alternating lines until they got to the chorus, which they sang together. Leo tried his hardest sing the song and keep up with Nico who seemed to know it inside out, but he began feeling self-conscious about it, because he was pretty convinced that Nico was a way better singer than he was.

"Don't want to let you down, but I am hell-bound," Nico sang softly with a melancholy look in his eyes, before pausing the game. He hesitated, like he was letting the words of the song sink in, then turned back to Leo. "You do realize that I'm just as bad a singer as you are, so you have nothing to worry about, right?"

"Nah man, you're pretty good," Leo said with a shrug. "I don't usually sing very seriously..."

"Well, maybe you should, because you're not bad at it," Nico offered, before unpausing the game and continuing to sing.

Leo thought about this for a second, and then held the microphone to his lips and tried to sing—really sing. When the chorus rolled around, he couldn't help but grin at how his voice worked with Nico's. It was slightly higher pitched, and slightly more lively, while Nico's was more like the darker element of the song. It worked, somehow, and for a second, neither one felt embarrassed.


	17. Visit from a friend

**Author's Note: Sorry this took so long! But this chapter, I took the other half of karatekid34's suggestion, which was to have someone walk in on them. Next chapter will probably be a bit more serious than the last two, haha :P And as for The One The Outside, who suggested that I have an alternate ending to satisfy both audiences, that is actually exactly what I was going to do! Though, I may throw in a few subtle romantic hints every now and then, just for all you shippers :3 But I will definitely have two endings, one romantic and one not. Thanks for reading, and enjoy!**

Rather than a simple game of Rock Band to pass the time, it turned into an all-out karaoke war between the two boys. They sang for hours straight, singing everything from rock to rap to pop, quite a few songs by the Beatles, Greenday, Maroon 5, some more Imagine Dragons... At some point, another Taylor Swift song came up, and no one protested. After about forty-two songs, anything goes.

Finally, Nico turned to Leo. "I can't do this. 'Friday' was the last straw," he huffed, out of breath from singing so much. He was totally exhausted, but still smiling like he was having a great time. "One more song, no more."

"Deal," Leo said with a nod. He hit the 'random' button again, and a song started to load. "Are you kidding me?" was all he could say when he saw the title pop up. In big letters read "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen, and Leo inwardly groaned.

The countdown started, and Nico chuckled softly. "I threw a wish in the well," he sang, and he sounded surprisingly good for someone who'd been singing for a few hours already. "Don't ask me, I'll never tell."

Leo cleared his throat and sang into the mic, "I looked to you as it fell, but now you're in my way." Despite the fact that they'd been playing for so long, he was still having an enormous amount of fun, especially when he got to the part that went, "ripped jeans, skin was showing," and he winked at Nico.

"Hey, I just met you," they both sang a little louder when they got to the chorus, music blaring from top-notch speakers Leo had installed. "And this is crazy, but here's my number, so call me maybe!" The boys giggled like crazy, and Leo was genuinely surprised—he'd never seen Nico act like this. Maybe he really had gone insane in Tartarus.

"It's hard to look right, at you _baby," _Leo belted out.

"But here's my number, so... _oh, gods_." Nico's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and his voice totally died.

"What?" Leo asked, but it didn't take long for him to follow Nico's gaze and see the person standing in the doorway.

"...Oh my gods." Piper looked totally stunned, speechless for a few seconds, before doubling over in a fit of hysterical laughter. "You guys!" she screamed, still cackling to herself like crazy. "So let me get this straight, you two just... For the entire night, you've been... And Nico... Nico, what are you _doing? _I mean, for Leo this isn't really out of the ordinary, but gods, you too?" She was practically in tears at this point, trying to muffle more laughter.

"What?" Nico felt heat rise to his cheeks, and he dropped the microphone to the ground. "Just because I'm a child of Hades doesn't mean I can't... uh, have fun..." He cleared his throat, suddenly very interested in his sword belt, and his shoes, and the zipper of his jacket.

"Leo, I've _got _to hear how you convinced this guy," she gestured to Nico, "to play a game like this. And you don't even have charmspeak! I'm impressed." She reached up, ruffling his hair.

"Shut up, Pipes," he muttered, pushing her arm away. "Look, I've got a knack for making other people do my will, even without the fancy Aphrodite charm. I don't blame 'em—how could anyone say no to _all this?" _He gestured to himself, punctuating his sentence with a wink and a smirk.

"Really, Leo?" Piper said, shaking her head and chuckling. "Hey Nico, should I charmspeak him?"

"Be my guest." Nico shrugged.

"Leo, can you do me a favor?" Piper asked, channeling power into her voice. Nico listened and was amused at first, until he felt the magic working on him, too. He felt himself clinging to her every word, wanting to obey whatever she said to do next.

"Of course," Leo answered, clearly under her spell. "Anything you like, not a problem." He grinned, like he was trying his hardest to please her.

"Perfect. Can you pull a tape recorder out of your belt for me?" she asked him, and of course, he obliged quickly, handing her the small contraption. "Okay, let's see here... When I start recording, I want you to say, 'I'm Leo Valdez and Piper McLean, my most awesome friend, is way more charming, beautiful, and cooler than I am in every way.' Oh, and also 'I have a _huge _crush on... on Coach Hedge!'"

Nico grinned, but even he found himself slightly believing her words. Piper was rather charming, and beautiful, and certainly cooler than Leo, and Coach Hedge—_'Oh gods,' _he thought, _'snap out of it.'_

Leo nodded, and when Piper hit play, he recited in a clear voice, "I'm Leo Valdez and Piper McLean, my most awesome friend, is way more charming, beautiful, and cooler than I am in every way. I also have a huge crush on Coach Hedge." After he was done, Piper stopped recording and busted into laughter.

"Oh gods, Leo!" Piper almost felt bad about it, but not that bad.

"What?" He looked confused. "What did I do?" He sort of remembered, but he couldn't believe he'd _actually _said those things on recording, and totally meant them. "No way, you didn't... Piper, I'm gonna kill you!"

"Not if I tell you not to," she teased, dangling the tape recorder in face. "I wonder who I should show this to first," she mused, raising a brow in thought. "Maybe Jason... I'm sure Frank and Hazel would love it, too. And lucky Nico, he was here to see the whole thing!"

Nico just snickered, receiving an angry glare from Leo. "What? Not my fault."

"This is _totally _your fault!" Leo exclaimed, trying to snatch the contraption out of Piper's hands, but she was too quick. He felt heat rise to his cheeks, and heard the two of them yelp when his hands caught fire. "Oops," he muttered a little sheepishly, quickly putting out the flames. "But seriously," he whined, "give it here, Beauty Queen!"

"Sheesh, I wasn't really going to show anyone anyway," she reassured him. "Well, that is, if you do me one more favor."

"Another favor?" He scoffed. "No way!" Even though he was trying his hardest to sound threatening and angry, there were two problems: one, he wasn't _really _that angry, and two, he stood a bit shorter than Piper, so he looked like a whiny, scrawny child trying to argue with her.

"Fine, then I know what's playing on the ship's intercom tomorrow." Piper started to walk away, when Leo grabbed her by the arm.

"Wait!" He said quickly, even if he knew Piper would never figure out how to work his intercom simply because of how complicated he made everything on the ship. "Okay, what's the favor?" he asked, sounding completely miserable.

"You guys didn't even tell me you had Rock Band." She shook her head, like it was unfair. "Let's play a few songs before I go back to bed."

"Oh," Nico murmured, like he was just realizing that Piper shouldn't have been awake. "Wait, what are you doing here, anyway?"

"I don't know about the rest of them, but when I hear 'Call Me Maybe' blaring on the ship's speakers, I kind of want to know what it is." She cracked a smile at the thought. "Gods, what were you guys doing playing that song anyway?"

Leo muttered something about a stupid random button, before saying, "Ah well, it doesn't matter. Let's just get started, shall we?" He picked up a guitar off the floor, and handed it to Piper.

'A few songs' turned into another hour of singing, hardcore guitar solos, and scoring combos on the drums, until Piper finally set down the guitar. "Gods, you guys," she muttered, "I didn't know Nico was such a good singer. You too, Leo." She smiled at them.

They both blushed slightly, before saying at the same time, pointing to each other, "He's the better singer." Both of them, at this point, had totally lost their voices, so their words were barely over a pained whisper.

Piper just smirked, rolling her eyes. "Well, I might as well get my last two hours of sleep. See you both in a bit, good night." She walked out the way she came, contemplating how Leo Valdez, her idiot little brother, had become such good friends with Nico, the child of the Underworld.

Leo turned back to Nico and coughed. "No more singing."

"Yeah," Nico agreed, clearing his throat.

"But... just _one more _guitar battle couldn't hurt, could it?"

"Of course not."


	18. Friends

**Author's Note: This took forever, oh my gods I'm sorry. Writer's block + a screwed up sleeping schedule makes for poor writing ability. Anyhow, I was going to put in another suggestion in this chapter, but it ended up being a little too long since I want to develop the ideas really well. So, this is kind of filler. Thanks for reading, and enjoy!**

Before they knew it, the sun had started to rise, filling the room with a warm glow. The floor was littered with empty water bottles, because even if they'd promised each other they would not sing another song, the microphones sitting off to the side were just a bit too tempting.

"One more song," Leo pleaded, but his voice was weak. "C'mon, we can do it!"

Nico laughed, but at this point, he really _did _sound like a dying animal. "Gods, no. We have to stop sometime. And besides," he paused, taking a sip out of a half-full water bottle, "I don't really think we want Jason finding us playing Rock Band at five in the morning. That guy always wakes up at dawn."

"Ah, Jason's no fun." Leo chuckled, shaking his head. "Just _one _more? Please?" he whined, shaking Nico by the shoulders. "I haven't had this much fun in ages, bro!"

Nico rolled his eyes, ignoring Leo, and shut off the Wii and the television, yanking the cords out of the wall sockets. "Let's go, Leo," he muttered, dragging the older out of the room by the arm.

"Whatever, you're just a quitter," Leo said, sticking out his tongue. When they arrived back at the bunks, he tried to go through his ceremonious waking-up-the-others-in-the-loudest-possible-way practice, but he was halfway through screaming, "SPARKY!" before his voice broke. "Gah," he groaned, "too much singing."

"You're saying that _now? _Four hours later?" Nico would have laughed, if he was even able to. "It looks like we're going to have to just do things the normal, less annoying way." He stepped up to Jason's door, knocking three times. "Jason?" he croaked.

"You really think he'll be able to hear you through the d—" He stopped talking when the door flew open, and Jason stood there, eyes alert without a hint of sleep in them. Leo began to wonder if the guy ever slept, or if he even needed to. "Welp, it looks like he heard you."

"Leo, what's wrong with your voice?" Jason asked, a brow raised in concern. "Did you get sick or something? We're running low on supplies, but you can probably dig some nectar out of the supply room, if you need it."

"Not sick, just a long night," Nico explained, but the fact that his voice was just as weak worried Jason even more.

"Are you guys okay?" Jason felt bad for them, because the two boys were the youngest other than Hazel, yet they always seemed sad and exhausted when they came to wake the others up. Little did he know they spent their time playing endless games of Rock Band, while the monster attacks happened during the day.

"We're fine, Sparky," Leo reassured him, smiling goofily despite his bloodshot eyes and lack of a voice. "You can ask your girlfriend all about it, when she wakes up."

"Piper?" Now, he just looked plain confused. "What does she have to do with any of this?"

"You'll find out later, let's just get the others up," Nico said, cutting off the conversation. Next, he knocked on Frank's door. "Frank," he called, but it wasn't really loud enough to wake up a guy who slept like an elephant under tranquilizers.

"Frank!" Jason's voice boomed like thunder, and a second later, Frank stumbled out of his room still in his pajamas, hair sticking up in a few directions, eyes half-closed.

"Frank Zhang, Centurion of the Fifth Cohort, reporting for duty," he said in a daze, slurring his words together. It took him a few seconds and a few nudges from Leo before he regained his senses, realizing what he'd said. "I mean..." He yawned. "Good morning."

"Mornin'," Leo said in his not-really-all-there voice.

"Uh, you sound different," Frank noticed, but he didn't really seem to care as much as Jason did. "Is everyone else up, or...?"

"Nope," Jason answered. "Hazel! Pipes!" he yelled, because he didn't want Nico and Leo to waste their voices, which the two younger boys were rather thankful for. Jason knocked on their doors a few times, and the two girls walked out in their pajamas as well.

Piper yawned. "Hey Leo, Nico," she said casually, waving at them with a tired look in her eyes. "Have you been playing this entire time?"

"Yeah, mostly just guitar, though," Nico admitted, but he wasn't able to explain much to anyone else before Hazel was at his side.

"Your voice," she said, "Are you okay?" She already had her hand up against his forehead, checking for a temperature. "Do you need anything? What happened?"

Nico chuckled lightly. "Hazel, we're fine. I told you not to worry about me, okay? Leo and I were..." He hesitated, trying to decide whether to say 'singing for hours straight on Rock Band for the Wii,' or just come up with a lie to make himself sound less immature. "Well, you can ask Piper if you want," he said, not wanting to admit to the whole ordeal.

"Piper?" Hazel looked to her, obviously concerned. "Why would you know?"

"Ah, I'll explain later," Piper reassured her. "Just the boys being... well, idiots."

"Hey, you're the one who joined in!" Leo argued, but when Piper gave him the _hey-I-have-major-blackmail-on-you _look, he knew it was time to shut his mouth. "Well, then," he began with an overexaggerated yawn, "it looks like it's about time for me and the kiddo here to get to sleep. Right, Nico?"

"Don't call me 'kiddo.'" Nico grumbled, rolling his eyes. "But yeah, you guys head down and eat breakfast. Wake us up at sundown." He turned, and started walking into Leo's room, not really realizing that the others were still there, watching him. Sure, Hazel and Frank knew that Nico stayed in Leo's room, but Jason and Piper—

"Um. Nico?" Jason was the first person to speak, as usual. "That's not Percy's room."

Nico stopped in his tracks, silently cursing himself for being such an idiot. "Oh. Oh, right. I... must just be tired," he mumbled, before letting out a sigh and heading back into Percy's room. "Aha... yeah. Good night—er, morning." He shut the door quickly, leaving no room for questions to be asked.

Piper gave Leo a look as if to say, _'What was that all about?' _In response Leo just shrugged, but the edgy expression on his face wasn't very convincing. Luckily, before Piper could ask anything more, Jason started to leave.

"He's right, we should go get something to eat," he said, walking in the direction of the dining room. "Leo, don't stay up working. Seriously, you've got to get some rest."

"Of course," Leo answered as if it should be obvious, smirking at Jason. "You guys just have a jolly old time eating waffles or whatever." He waved at them, strolling into his room and shutting the door behind him, letting out an exhausted sigh as he flopped down on the bed.

Leo sat in his room, wide-awake. Not working, not sleeping. Just waiting. As soon as he heard the last footsteps leaving the hall, he poked his head out the door, making sure no one was there. Then, he tiptoed out, careful not to make a sound, because he figured the others weren't too far off if they were still eating breakfast.

Good thing he'd made the doors so that they didn't squeak, he thought as he turned the knob on Percy's door.

In the room, Nico had fallen fast asleep, but his brow was furrowed and his expression tight, like he was in an intense dream. His slim fingers clutched the blanket tightly, his breathing shallow. He looked almost like a man in a coffin, which was a little creepy, especially in Percy's room in the dark.

"H-Hey... buddy?" Leo whispered, gently tapping him on the shoulder.

Nico's eyes shot open and he almost screamed, before Leo cupped a hand over his mouth. "Mmmffhh—"

"Shh!" Leo held a finger to his lips, knowing that if they made any more noise, they'd definitely be caught. "Shut up, Nico!" He listened, and let out a sigh of relief when everything was silent. "I'm gonna take my hand off your mouth. Promise not to scream?" Obviously, he didn't get an answer—but Nico did bite his hand, and hard. "Gah! What was that for?"

"Aren't you the one who just told me to be quiet?" he hissed, glaring at him, before his expression softened. "What... What are you doing here?"

"Hm?" Leo tilted his head, as though it should've been obvious. "What, didya really think I'd let you sleep in here all alone? You told me you hated it in here, so..." For lack of an explanation for his actions, he shrugged. "Just what friends do, I guess. Bet you never had a friend as great as me, huh? Now let's get you back in _my _room." Leo smirked, nudging him gently.

"...Friends. Of course," Nico muttered, rolling his eyes with a soft, hoarse laugh. He pulled himself off the bed, shaking his head, wondering, _'What did I ever do to deserve such an insane, idiotic, thoughtful friend like him?' _Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he listened for people outside, and was met by silence. "No one outside. Let's go."

And lying on the warm mechanic's bed while Leo slept in the chair (because seriously, that guy could sleep anywhere), though Nico wasn't even sure if he was still awake, he whispered, "Thanks, Leo."


	19. Fortune Cookie

**Author's Note: Yeah, school's starting and all that stuff, so I've been kinda busy. But here's a slightly longer chapter to make up for it! I went with the suggestion of Leo telling Nico about the fortune cookie thing, which was suggested by a few people. An anonymous reviewer named Caitlin and ArtemisApollo97, I think, were the two who suggested it? And I also put in a little bit more ~fluffy~ moments for all the shippers, hehe. Read and enjoy, wonderful people!**

Leo listened to Nico's soft 'thanks' before the kid finally drifted off, leaving the mechanic alone in the darkness. Eyes closed, he willed for himself to fall asleep, but each time he did, it would last for five, maybe ten minutes before his brain would come back into consciousness, like a machine sparking back to life. _'Dude, go to sleep,' _he told himself, but his mind had other ideas. Somehow, his thoughts kept wandering to Percy and Annabeth—and naturally, those weren't very welcome thoughts.

The sound of Nico's steady, almost soothing breathing kept him calm, but not calm enough to totally relax. He opened his mouth to wake him up, maybe clear his mind by talking it out, but his voice died at the first syllable. _'Gods, he'd hate you if you woke him up,' _he thought, _'but then again, when has anyone ever not hated you?' _

Okay, he knew that wasn't totally true. He had friends and people who cared about him and a family back at Camp Half-Blood, but in the dark of the night (even if it was technically day time outside of the room) when he was left alone with himself, it didn't take much for those insecurities to start jumping up on him.

"Nico?" he blurted out finally, unable to stand the silence any longer. He'd been there for what, a few hours, maybe? His voice was shaky, with that kind of whiny tone you get before you start to cry. _'What are you doing?' _he chided himself, instantly regretting trying to wake the other up. "Nico, please wake up," he said again, in spite of himself.

"Mmnh," Nico groaned, obviously not happy to be woken up. With his eyes still closed, he mumbled, "Where... oh. Leo... what time is it?"

"About eight in the morning," he answered, a little sheepishly. "Sorry—I know I should be getting rest since we have the nightshift again tonight, but I..." He hesitated, trying to place his words so that he didn't sound like a five year-old. "Ah, I couldn't sleep?"

"Okay..." Nico tried not to sound annoyed, because although he was a little bit peeved that he'd been woken up, he knew sleeping was usually no easy task for demigods; especially in their current situation. "Well, is something bothering you?" It was a stupid question—of course something was bothering him, they were on a ship practically riding full speed ahead to their deaths. Everyone always had _something _on their mind.

"No, no, of course not, man," Leo said quickly, but no more than a second passed before he let out a sigh. "It's just the average stuff. Y'know, the entire world's fate in your hands, a ship you put blood and sweat into being torn apart by monsters 24/7, stressed out friends who have more important things to worry about than just a stupid mechanic..." The words fell nonchalantly from his lips, like he was trying to play it all off as nothing.

Nico, on the other hand, was concerned by the way he trailed off. "Leo, for gods' sakes, you're not stupid. You said it yourself. You put blood and sweat into this ship? Then use it to keep your friends alive. I can't stand people feeling bad for themselves all the time, especially if—especially if they've got so much to be proud of."

_'So much to be proud of?' _Leo thought, _'Is this kid crazy? What do I, of all people, have to be proud of?' _He knew he could build well, and of course he had the whole fire thing, but as most things in his life are, they were both curses of their own. Building drove him crazy and he'd work for days without end, and fire... well, fire and burning buildings were things he'd rather not think about. "Look, bro, thanks and all, but..." His voice faltered, and he let out a sigh. "Most people, if they got to know me, wouldn't like what they saw."

"Got to know you?" Nico countered, slight offense detectable in his tone. _'What does he mean? I summoned the guy's dead mother,' _he thought, wondering how there could really be any secrets past that. Sure, Nico didn't tell him everything about his life, but Leo? He just didn't seem like the type to hide things. "You're saying I don't know you?"

"You know that's not what I meant," Leo mumbled, glad they were in the dark so Nico couldn't read his sad expression. "It's just... Even a guy like me's got to have _some _secrets, y'know?" He chuckled dryly a bit, hoping Nico wouldn't push him to talk. Sure, he wanted to get this stuff off his chest, but he also wanted Nico to like him. And if he told him about the fortune cookie, and how all of this was _his _fault, he wasn't sure anyone could like him after that.

"No, I don't know. Everyone on this ship is counting on each other. If we don't know each other by now, then..." He trailed off, shaking his head and sighing. He was curious about what could be troubling him, and he was also concerned, but he didn't want to seem that way to Leo. No way was he the type to get involved in people's personal business or pry for information—but this felt different to him. Acting on an impulse, he opened his mouth and said, "You can at least tell me what's wrong. I won't tell the rest of them."

Leo raised a brow at this. Nico? Offering to share his burdens with him? Wasn't it just a few days prior to this that the two couldn't stand each other? "Don't get me wrong, that's ah... quite the tempting offer, but I don't really want..." He paused, before admitting, "I like you, buddy. I don't want another person to end up hating me."

Nico felt uneasy at that, like something in the back of his mind was protesting it. Leo liked him? If anything, he thought that what Leo felt for him was a need for companionship, and maybe a little pity. "You're stupid if you think I could ever hate you..." He mumbled awkwardly, before adding in a more lighthearted tone, "You already know too much."

"I still find it hard to believe you've got a sense of humor underneath all that angsty brooding," Leo said, chuckling lightly, "but thanks. I guess it's just..." He wanted to tell him everything, but his voice caught in his throat. "You ever feel like, y'know..." He started again slowly, trying to keep his voice even. "You did something really bad, and you can't stop thinking about it, but there was nothing else for you to do, and everything just—everything is your fault, it's always your fault, no matter how hard you try? You ever feel like that?"

"Uh... yeah, I guess?" he said hesitantly, wincing at the way Leo was talking. "You probably don't want to tell me, but... Leo, what did you do?"

"What did I do?" He shook his head, sinking into his chair. "Yeah, Leo," he mumbled out loud to himself, "what did you do?"

"Are you... okay?" Nico asked, shifting in Leo's bed and sitting up. "You want to sit on the bed? It's probably more comfortable than your chair." He scooted over, making enough room for two people. It was a good thing that both he and Leo were rather skinny.

"Sure," he said softly, hoisting himself up and out of his chair and sitting cross-legged on the mattress across from Nico. A long pause settled into the conversation, and finally, Leo sighed. "It was in Rome. Your sister, Frank, and I were off looking for—" He stopped himself from saying 'looking for you,' because he didn't want Nico to blame himself for what happened. The kid was dying in a jar somewhere, no need for any of this to become his fault.

"Looking for what?" Nico asked, brow raised in curiosity.

"Uh, I forget," he said, wanting to move on quickly. "We got caught in an underground trap by Mother Earth and her stupid _eidolon _friends. By the by, this was the place where I found all of Archimedes' old stuff." He took a moment to regather his thoughts and take a breath, trying to place his words so that he wouldn't start crying in the middle of it—because honestly, that's how he felt. "Basically, they were going to kill us, and Hazel and Frank were just—they were unconscious, and..." The memory came back to him like being hit by a speeding train, and he had to stop talking.

"Leo?" Nico couldn't exactly see him in the darkness, but as a child of Hades, he could almost _feel _the things around him. Reaching out and putting a hand on his shoulder, he was startled that Leo was almost shaking—it made him really want to hear the end of that story.

Leo almost jumped when he felt Nico's hand on him, but it brought him out of the memory and back to reality, which he was thankful for. "Yeah, I'm fine," he muttered, before shaking his head to clear his mind and continuing. "We were trapped, and I knew I had to do _something_, and Archimedes' stuff was still there, so I thought... hey, this stuff might still work."

"Whoa." Nico took his hand away and pulled himself out of the blankets, bringing his knees up to his chest and leaning forward, like a little kid listening to an exciting bedtime story. Sure, this wasn't exactly 'bedtime story' material, but being told tales of adventure in the dark awoke some sort of child in him. "I've _spoken _to Archimedes. You really got to see all of... That's like the discovery of a lifetime."

Leo, despite his mood, was surprised for a moment. "You talked to him? But he—oh yeah. Hades. Forgot about that." Smiling momentarily at his stupid mistake, it faded when he continued to tell what happened. "So, this guy is basically the inventor to end all inventors—of course he put passcode locks on everything. And when the time came to save Hazel and Frank, well..." He reached inside his toolbelt pocket, feeling around until his fingers wrapped around half a fortune cookie. "You ever met a goddess named Nemesis?"

Nico was caught a little off-guard by the question, but he shook his head. "No. But I'm guessing you have."

"Yeah. Not a nice lady." He sighed, shaking his head. "But she gave me this fortune cookie, saying I'd need it, and I pocketed the thing not knowing what she was talking about. Then when the time came, I didn't think and I just opened it—I had to save them, Nico. I couldn't let my friends die."

"Nemesis, goddess of balance," Nico said aloud to himself. "You know, her son, Ethan Nakamura—"

"Gave an eye to change the world. Heard all about it," he finished for him. "But when she gave me the cookie, she said I'd have to pay a price, too—not an eye, something worse. Then... I used the fortune cookie, but I didn't think the price I had to pay would be—I didn't think she would take away—" His voice broke, and he didn't finish his sentence before burying his face in his hands.

"Would take away what...?" Nico began to ask, but his voice died as the pieces fit together in his mind. The goddess of balance? It only made sense; save two friends... lose two. "Oh."

Leo would've said something, or cracked a joke, or really done anything to break the silence that had settled in after Nico's soft 'oh,' but he knew if he started talking, he'd start crying. And why would he want to make himself look _more _pathetic, after just admitting that Percy and Annabeth falling into Tartarus was really all his fault? Holding out his hand, he ignited a small flame for light, glancing up at Nico's face.

For once, the eyes of the child of Hades were kind, almost gentle. "Hey..." Nico could almost feel his heart break at the way Leo was looking at him. Pulling himself over to the other side of the bed next to Leo, he hesitantly wrapped an arm around him, trying his very hardest not to be awkward about it (and failing quite miserably). "It... It's uh, not your fault." Realizing that the whole 'comforting people' thing was not his strong suit, he pulled his arm away.

Though Leo was surprised at Nico even wanting to get near him, having his arm there did make him feel better. "It kind of is. But what I don't get..." He put out the flame so that Nico wouldn't be able to see the tears streaking his face. "...is how any of this is _fair. _Nemesis wants things to be fair, right? How is tossing two of our best friends into hell _fair?"_ he asked, not really expecting Nico to be able to answer that.

"It's not. Nothing is ever going to be fair for us, and you know that. She's the goddess of balance. In some ironic way, this is balanced. Hazel and Frank... for Percy and Annabeth." Nico shook his head, trying to think of something a little less depressing to say. "Don't be so mad at yourself. We all blame ourselves for one reason or another, honestly."

"Yeah, but I..." Leo tried to protest, but his voice broke and he didn't bother to stop himself from crying.

"Stop it, Leo. I'm telling you again, this isn't your fault. It's no one's. So stop." Nico cut him off, not knowing what to do to make him feel better. "Don't... um, don't cry, Leo..." He tried patting him on the shoulder, but that was just as awkward as putting his arm around him. _'How do people do this? This would be so much easier if Hazel was here...' _he thought, sighing at himself and inching away from Leo.

"You're really bad at comforting people, aren't you?" Leo mumbled, and he wasn't sure if he was being serious or not. Even if Nico thought he was doing a terrible job, it still made him feel a little bit better. "Just c'mere..." Leo leaned over, pulling him by the arm into a warm hug.

"Huh? Wh—" Nico began to ask, before his face was buried in Leo's shoulder. Shifting a bit so that his arms were around Leo properly and his face was out of his shirt, he held onto him tightly. He hadn't realized how much he really needed a hug until then; seriously, Leo gave the best hugs. "Yeah. I'm bad at this."

"That's okay," Leo said with a soft laugh, which was a little strange considering he was crying at the same time, "I'm glad I finally got that off my chest. You're a good listener. And despite what you may think, you're pretty good at giving hugs, too."

"Shut up, Leo," Nico grumbled, but he couldn't really muster up the energy to be mad at him, especially after the whole conversation. "Are you going to go back to your chair and finally get some sleep, or should I let you have the bed tonight?"

"Ah, don't be like that, the bed's big enough for two," Leo chuckled, pulling himself into the blankets. "Just go to sleep, kiddo."

"Funny you're telling me to sleep, when you're the one who woke me up in the first place." In spite of himself, Nico did pull himself into the sheets, a lot more tired than he'd let on during the conversation. "Night, Leo."

"It's not technically nighttime, but g'night to you too," Leo mumbled back, voice slightly muffled by the bedsheets, before feeling himself begin to drift off, too. "Thanks..." he said in a half-conscious voice, before completely knocking out.


End file.
